Thermodynamic Factors Controlling Electron Transfer among the Terminal Electron Acceptors of Photosystem I: Insights from Kinetic Modelling

Photosystem I is a key component of primary energy conversion in oxygenic photosynthesis. Electron transfer reactions in Photosystem I take place across two parallel electron transfer chains that converge after a few electron transfer steps, sharing both the terminal electron acceptors, which are a series of three iron–sulphur (Fe-S) clusters known as (Formula presented.), (Formula presented.), and (Formula presented.), and the terminal donor, (Formula presented.). The two electron transfer chains show kinetic differences which are, due to their close geometrical symmetry, mainly attributable to the tuning of the physicochemical reactivity of the bound cofactors, exerted by the protein surroundings. The factors controlling the rate of electron transfer between the terminal Fe-S clusters are still not fully understood due to the difficulties of monitoring these events directly. Here we present a discussion concerning the driving forces associated with electron transfer between (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.) as well as between (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.), employing a tunnelling-based description of the reaction rates coupled with the kinetic modelling of forward and recombination reactions. It is concluded that the reorganisation energy for (Formula presented.) oxidation shall be lower than 1 eV. Moreover, it is suggested that the analysis of mutants with altered (Formula presented.) redox properties can also provide useful information concerning the upstream phylloquinone cofactor energetics.