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Photosynthesis

A crystal clear view

Nature volume 396, pages 221–222 (1998)Cite this article

Photosynthetic bacteria, algae and plants have developed efficient systems to capture and convert sunlight into chemical energy. They produce about ten billion tons of carbohydrates annually, equivalent to eight times mankind's energy consumption in 1990. The first step in this reaction — light-driven electron transfer across the photosynthetic membrane — is executed by pigment-protein complexes known as the type-I and type-II reaction centres. The quantum yield (nearly 100%) and efficiency (about 40%) of this process, whereby photons are converted into electrochemical energy, are remarkable.

The structures of bacterial type-II and the cyanobacterial type-I reaction centres have already been solved by X-ray crystallography1,2,3. Now, on page 283 of this issue, Rhee et al.4 describe their electron crystallographic analysis, which gives a first insight into the three-dimensional structure of the plant photosystem II (PSII) complex. This remarkable study also provides solid evidence for a common evolutionary origin of the different types of reaction centre.

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Figure 1: The cascade of type-I and type-II light-driven electron pumps that have been tuned over billions of years to work together efficiently.
Figure 2: Active constituents of the electron pathway in the Rhodopseudomonas viridis reaction centre.

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  1. the Biozentrum der Universität Basel, Maurice Müller Institut, Klingelbergstrasse 70, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland

    Andreas Engel

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  1. Andreas Engel
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Engel, A. A crystal clear view. Nature 396, 221–222 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/24278

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