Wraight Colin A
Department of Biochemistry and Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, MC-147, University of Illinois, 607 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Front Biosci. 2004 Jan 1;9:309-37. doi: 10.2741/1236.
For twenty years the photosynthetic reaction center (RC) has been the premier testing ground for theoretical understanding of electron transfer in aperiodic systems, with special, but not unique, reference to long distance biological electron transport. In addition to the known structure, many of the attributes that make RCs so well suited to studying electron transfer function equally well for any charge movement, including protons. These include the presence of intrinsic reporter groups (electrochromically active pigments), high time resolution through light activation, and a large number and variety of distinct reactions, ranging from loosely coupled responses of the protein dielectric to specific, long distance proton transfers in and out of active sites, and bond making in terminal chemical transformations. A wide variety of biophysical methods have been coupled with site directed mutagenesis to reveal mechanisms of proton uptake, transfer and chemistry in the RC. This review summarizes our progress to date, which suggests that the RC can serve as a paradigm, not only for many energy coupled, membrane proteins, but for the electrostatic and dielectric properties of proteins that are critical to their general function.
二十年来，光合反应中心（RC）一直是对非周期性系统中电子转移进行理论理解的首要试验场，特别但并非唯一地涉及长距离生物电子传输。除了已知的结构外，许多使RC非常适合研究电子转移功能的特性，对于包括质子在内的任何电荷移动同样适用。这些特性包括存在内在报告基团（电致变色活性色素）、通过光激活实现的高时间分辨率，以及大量且多样的不同反应，从蛋白质电介质的松散偶联响应到质子在活性位点内外的特定长距离转移，以及末端化学转化中的键形成。各种各样的生物物理方法已与定点诱变相结合，以揭示RC中质子摄取、转移和化学过程的机制。本综述总结了我们迄今为止取得的进展，这表明RC不仅可以作为许多能量偶联膜蛋白的范例，还可以作为对其一般功能至关重要的蛋白质的静电和介电特性的范例。
