Nature Communications (Nov 2021)

Structural dynamics in the water and proton channels of photosystem II during the S2 to S3 transition

  • Rana Hussein,
  • Mohamed Ibrahim,
  • Asmit Bhowmick,
  • Philipp S. Simon,
  • Ruchira Chatterjee,
  • Louise Lassalle,
  • Margaret Doyle,
  • Isabel Bogacz,
  • In-Sik Kim,
  • Mun Hon Cheah,
  • Sheraz Gul,
  • Casper de Lichtenberg,
  • Petko Chernev,
  • Cindy C. Pham,
  • Iris D. Young,
  • Sergio Carbajo,
  • Franklin D. Fuller,
  • Roberto Alonso-Mori,
  • Alex Batyuk,
  • Kyle D. Sutherlin,
  • Aaron S. Brewster,
  • Robert Bolotovsky,
  • Derek Mendez,
  • James M. Holton,
  • Nigel W. Moriarty,
  • Paul D. Adams,
  • Uwe Bergmann,
  • Nicholas K. Sauter,
  • Holger Dobbek,
  • Johannes Messinger,
  • Athina Zouni,
  • Jan Kern,
  • Vittal K. Yachandra,
  • Junko Yano

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26781-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 16

Abstract

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The oxygen-evolving complex in Photosystem II (PSII) catalyzes the light-driven oxidation of water to oxygen and it is still under debate how the water reaches the active site. Here, the authors analyse time-resolved XFEL-based crystal structures of PSII that were determined at room temperature and report the structures of the waters in the putative channels surrounding the active site at various time-points during the reaction cycle and conclude that the O1 channel is the likely water intake pathway and the Cl1 channel the likely proton release pathway.