Structure of plant photosystem I-plastocyanin complex reveals strong hydrophobic interactions.
Caspy, I., Fadeeva, M., Kuhlgert, S., Borovikova-Sheinker, A., Klaiman, D., Masrati, G., Drepper, F., Ben-Tal, N., Hippler, M., Nelson, N.(2021) Biochem J 478: 2371-2384
- PubMed: 34085703 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1042/BCJ20210267
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
6ZOO - PubMed Abstract: 
Photosystem I is defined as plastocyanin-ferredoxin oxidoreductase. Taking advantage of genetic engineering, kinetic analyses and cryo-EM, our data provide novel mechanistic insights into binding and electron transfer between PSI and Pc. Structural data at 2.74 Å resolution reveals strong hydrophobic interactions in the plant PSI-Pc ternary complex, leading to exclusion of water molecules from PsaA-PsaB/Pc interface once the PSI-Pc complex forms. Upon oxidation of Pc, a slight tilt of bound oxidized Pc allows water molecules to accommodate the space between Pc and PSI to drive Pc dissociation. Such a scenario is consistent with the six times larger dissociation constant of oxidized as compared with reduced Pc and mechanistically explains how this molecular machine optimized electron transfer for fast turnover.
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
Organizational Affiliation: