Award details

Determination of the 3D structure of the photosystem II at high resolution and in various functional states

Reference	BB/C517125/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor James Barber
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Imperial College London
Department	Biological Sciences
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	606,056
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	17/05/2005
End date	16/05/2008
Duration	36 months

Abstract

Our recent determination of the complete structure of photosystem II (PSII) isolated from the cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongates refined at 3.5 Angstrom (Science 2004, 303 (2004) 1831-1838) is a major step forward in the elucidation of the precise chemistry of the water-splitting process which PSII catalyses. The proposed research will build on this success by (i) Optimising/modifying crystallisation procedures to obtain PSII structures at better resolution in order to improve the current model. Monoclonal antibody technology will be employed to generate new crystal forms. (ii) Replacing calcium by strontium in order to confirm the position of the Ca2+ in the water splitting catalytic site. (iii) Using flashes of light to convert the crystals into different S-states to investigate structural changes which may occur as the water-splitting chemistry proceeds through its five intermediate states SO to S4. (iv) Employing PSII inhibitors and modifiers to investigate their binding sites and mode of action both on the donor and acceptor sides of PSII. (v) Explore the structural details associated with redox shift of cytochrome b559 and the early events leading to the degradation and replacement of the D1-protein.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Biomolecular Sciences (BMS)
Research Topics	Microbiology, Structural Biology
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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