Allen J P, Williams J C
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Center for the Study of Early Events in Photosynthesis, Arizona State University, Tempe 85287-1604, USA.
FEBS Lett. 1998 Oct 30;438(1-2):5-9. doi: 10.1016/s0014-5793(98)01245-9.
The reaction center is the key component for the primary events in the photochemical conversion of light into chemical energy. After excitation by light, a charge separation that spans the cell membrane is formed in the reaction center in a few hundred picoseconds with a quantum yield of essentially one. A conserved pattern in the cofactors and core proteins of reaction centers from different organisms can be defined based on comparisons of the three dimensional structure of two types of reaction centers. Different functional aspects of the reaction center are discussed, including the properties of the bacteriochlorophyll or chlorophyll dimer that constitutes the primary electron donor, the pathway of electron transfer, and the different functional roles of the electron acceptors. The implication of these results on the evolution of the reaction center is presented.
反应中心是光化学将光能转化为化学能过程中初级事件的关键组成部分。在光激发后，反应中心在几百皮秒内形成跨越细胞膜的电荷分离，量子产率基本为1。基于两种类型反应中心三维结构的比较，可以确定不同生物体反应中心辅因子和核心蛋白中的保守模式。文中讨论了反应中心的不同功能方面，包括构成初级电子供体的细菌叶绿素或叶绿素二聚体的性质、电子转移途径以及电子受体的不同功能作用。还阐述了这些结果对反应中心进化的意义。
