The reaction between primary and secondary electron acceptors in bacterial photosynthesis.
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Chromatophores from photosynthetic bacteria were excited with flashes lasting approx. 15 ns. Transient optical absorbance changes not associated with the photochemical electron-transfer reactions were interpreted as reflecting the conversion of bacteriochlorophyll or carotenoids into triplet states. Triplet states of various carotenoids were detected in five strains of bacteria; triplet states of bacteriochlorophyll, in two strains that lack carotenoids. Triplet states of antenna pigments could be distinguished from those of pigments specifically associated with the photochemical reaction centers. Antenna pigments were converted into their triplet states if the photochemical apparatus was oversaturated with light, if the primary photochemical reaction was blocked by prior chemical oxidation of P-870 or reduction of the primary electron acceptor, or if the bacteria were genetically devoid of reaction centers. Only the reduction of the electron acceptor appeared to lead to the formation of triplet states in the reaction centers. In the antenna bacteriochlorophyll, triplet states probably arise from excited singlet states by intersystem crossing. The antenna carotenoid triplets probably are formed by energy transfer from triplet antenna bacteriochlorophyll. The energy transfer process has a half time of approx. 20 ns, and is about 1 X 10(3) times more rapid than the reaction of the bacteriochlorophyll triplet states with O2. This is consistent with a role of carotenoids in preventing the formation of singlet O2 in vivo. In the absence of carotenoids and O2, they decay half times of the triplet states are 70 mus for the antenna bacteriochlorophyll and 6-10 mus for the reaction center bacteriochlorophyll. The carotenoid triplets decay with half times of 2-8 mus. With eak flashes, the quantum yields of the antenna triplet states are in the order of 0.02. The quantum yields decline severely after approximately one triplet state is formed per photosynthetic unit, so that even extremely strong flashes convert only a very small fraction of the antenna pigments into triplet states. The yield of fluorescence from the antenna bacteriochlorophyll declines similarly. These observations can be explained by the proposal that single-triplet fusion causes rapid quenching of excited single states in the antenna bacteriochlorophyll.
A method for calculating the rate constant (KA1A2) for the oxidation of the primary electron acceptor (A1) by the secondary one (A2) in the photosynthetic electron transport chain of purple bacteria is proposed. The method is based on the analysis of the dark recovery kinetics of reaction centre bacteriochlorophyll (P) following its oxidation by a short single laser pulse at a high oxidation-reduction potential of the medium. It is shown that in Ectothiorhodospira shaposhnikovii there is little difference in the value of KA1A2 obtained by this method from that measured by the method of Parson ((1969) Biochim, Biophys. Acta 189, 384-396), namely: (4.5 +/- 1.4)-10(3) s-1 and (6.9 +/- 1.2)-10(3) s-1, respectively. The proposed method has also been used for the estimation of the KA1A2 value in chromatophores of Rhodospirillum rubrum deprived of constitutive electron donors which are capable of reducing P+ at a rate exceeding this for the transfer of electron from A1 to A2. The method of Parson cannot be used in this case. The value of KA1A2 has been found to be (2.7 +/- 0.8)-10(3) s-1. The activation energies for the A1 to A2 electron transfer have also been determined. They are 12.4 kcal/mol and 9.9 kcal/mol for E. shaposhnikovii and R. rubrum, respectively.
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The reponses of oxonol dyes to single and multiple single turnovers of the photosynthetic apparatus of photosynthetic bacteria have been studied, and compared with the responses of the endogenous carotenoid pigments. The absorbance changes of the oxonols can be conveniently measured at 587 nm, because this is an isosbestic point in the 'light-minus-dark' difference spectrum of the chromatophores. The oxonols appear to respond to the light-induced 'energization' by shifting their absorption maxima. In the presence of K+, valinomycin abolished and nigericin enhanced such shifts, suggesting that the dyes, respond to the light-induced membrane potential. Since the dyes are anions at neutral pH values, they probably distribute across the membrane in accordance with the potential, which is positive inside the chromatophores. The accumulation of dye, which is indicated by a decrease in the carotenoid bandshift, poises the dye-membrane equilibrium in favor of increased dye binding and this might be the cause of the spectral shift. The dye response has an apparent second-order rate constant of approx. 2 . 10(6) M-1 . s-1 and so is always slower than the carotenoid bandshift. Thus the dyes cannot be used to monitor membrane potential on submillisecond timescales. Nevertheless, on a timescale of seconds the logarithm of the absorbance change at 587 nm is linear with respect to the membrane potential calibrated with the carotenoid bandshift. This suggests that under appropriate conditions the dyes can be used with confidence as indicators of membrane potential in energy-transducing membranes that do not possess intrinsic probes of potential.