Photosystem II: evolutionary perspectives - PubMed

Review

Photosystem II: evolutionary perspectives

A W Rutherford et al. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2003.

Abstract

Based on the current model of its structure and function, photosystem II (PSII) seems to have evolved from an ancestor that was homodimeric in terms of its protein core and contained a special pair of chlorophylls as the photo-oxidizable cofactor. It is proposed that the key event in the evolution of PSII was a mutation that resulted in the separation of the two pigments that made up the special chlorophyll pair, making them into two chlorophylls that were neither special nor paired. These ordinary chlorophylls, along with the two adjacent monomeric chlorophylls, were very oxidizing: a property proposed to be intrinsic to monomeric chlorophylls in the environment provided by reaction centre (RC) proteins. It seems likely that other (mainly electrostatic) changes in the environments of the pigments probably tuned their redox potentials further but these changes would have been minor compared with the redox jump imposed by splitting of the special pair. This sudden increase in redox potential allowed the development of oxygen evolution. The highly oxidizing homodimeric RC would probably have been not only inefficient in terms of photochemistry and charge storage but also wasteful in terms of protein or pigments undergoing damage due to the oxidative chemistry. These problems would have constituted selective pressures in favour of the lop-sided, heterodimeric system that exists as PSII today, in which the highly oxidized species are limited to only one side of the heterodimer: the sacrificial, rapidly turned-over D1 protein. It is also suggested that one reason for maintaining an oxidizable tyrosine, TyrD, on the D2 side of the RC, is that the proton associated with its tyrosyl radical, has an electrostatic role in confining P(+) to the expendable D1 side.

Similar articles

• A model for the photosystem II reaction center core including the structure of the primary donor P680.

  Svensson B, Etchebest C, Tuffery P, van Kan P, Smith J, Styring S. Svensson B, et al. Biochemistry. 1996 Nov 19;35(46):14486-502. doi: 10.1021/bi960764k. Biochemistry. 1996. PMID: 8931545

• Modeling of the D1/D2 proteins and cofactors of the photosystem II reaction center: implications for herbicide and bicarbonate binding.

  Xiong J, Subramaniam S, Govindjee. Xiong J, et al. Protein Sci. 1996 Oct;5(10):2054-73. doi: 10.1002/pro.5560051012. Protein Sci. 1996. PMID: 8897606 Free PMC article.

• UV-B-induced inhibition of photosystem II electron transport studied by EPR and chlorophyll fluorescence. Impairment of donor and acceptor side components.

  Vass I, Sass L, Spetea C, Bakou A, Ghanotakis DF, Petrouleas V. Vass I, et al. Biochemistry. 1996 Jul 9;35(27):8964-73. doi: 10.1021/bi9530595. Biochemistry. 1996. PMID: 8688433

• The stable tyrosyl radical in photosystem II: why D?

  Rutherford AW, Boussac A, Faller P. Rutherford AW, et al. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2004 Apr 12;1655(1-3):222-30. doi: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2003.10.016. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2004. PMID: 15100035 Review.

• Photosystem two.

  Barber J. Barber J. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1998 Jun 10;1365(1-2):269-77. doi: 10.1016/s0005-2728(98)00079-6. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1998. PMID: 9693741 Review.

Cited by

• Acquirement of water-splitting ability and alteration of the charge-separation mechanism in photosynthetic reaction centers.

  Tamura H, Saito K, Ishikita H. Tamura H, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Jul 14;117(28):16373-16382. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2000895117. Epub 2020 Jun 29. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020. PMID: 32601233 Free PMC article.

• Biotechnological strategies for improved photosynthesis in a future of elevated atmospheric CO₂.

  Singer SD, Soolanayakanahally RY, Foroud NA, Kroebel R. Singer SD, et al. Planta. 2019 Nov 29;251(1):24. doi: 10.1007/s00425-019-03301-4. Planta. 2019. PMID: 31784816 Review.

• On the performance of a photosystem II reaction centre-based photocell.

  Stones R, Hossein-Nejad H, van Grondelle R, Olaya-Castro A. Stones R, et al. Chem Sci. 2017 Oct 1;8(10):6871-6880. doi: 10.1039/c7sc02983g. Epub 2017 Aug 4. Chem Sci. 2017. PMID: 29147512 Free PMC article.

• Thinking twice about the evolution of photosynthesis.

  Cardona T. Cardona T. Open Biol. 2019 Mar 29;9(3):180246. doi: 10.1098/rsob.180246. Open Biol. 2019. PMID: 30890026 Free PMC article. Review.

• Enhancing (crop) plant photosynthesis by introducing novel genetic diversity.

  Dann M, Leister D. Dann M, et al. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2017 Sep 26;372(1730):20160380. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0380. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2017. PMID: 28808099 Free PMC article.

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources

• Full Text Sources

  • Atypon
  • Europe PubMed Central
  • PubMed Central