Energetic Diversity in the Electron-Transfer Pathways of Type I Photosynthetic Reaction Centers.

Photosynthetic reaction centers from heliobacteria (HbRC) and green sulfur bacteria (GsbRC) are homodimeric proteins and share a common ancestor with photosystem I (PSI), classified as type I reaction centers. Using the HbRC crystal structure, we calculated the redox potential () values in the electron-transfer branches, solving the linear Poisson-Boltzmann equation and considering the protonation states of all titratable sites in the entire protein-pigment complex. (A) for bacteriochlorophyll at the secondary site in HbRC (-1157 mV) is as low as (A) for chlorophyll in PSI (-1173 mV). (A/HbRC) is at the same level as (A/GsbRC) and is 200 mV higher than (A/PSI) due to the replacement of PsaA-Trp697/PsaB-Trp677 in PSI with PshA-Arg554 in HbRC. In contrast, (F) for the FeS cluster in HbRC (-420 mV) is significantly higher than (F) in GsbRC (-719 mV) and PSI (-705 mV) due to the absence of acidic residues that correspond to PscA-Asp634 in GsbRC and PsaB-Asp575 in PSI. It seems likely that type I reaction centers have evolved, adopting (bacterio)chlorophylls suitable for their light environments while maintaining electron-transfer cascades.