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  4. Impact of molecular flexibility on the site energy shift of chlorophylls in Photosystem II
 
conference paper

Impact of molecular flexibility on the site energy shift of chlorophylls in Photosystem II

Narzi, Daniele  
•
Coccia, Emanuele
•
Manzoli, Marco
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2017
Biophysical Chemistry
23rd National Congress of the Italian-Society-for-Pure-and-Applied-Biophysics (SIBPA)

Light harvesting from the Sun by antenna complexes surrounding the reaction center of Photosystem II represents the first step of the natural oxygenic photosynthesis performed by plants, algae and cyanobacteria. The excitation energy derived from the sunlight is absorbed by the chlorophylls of the antenna and subsequently conveyed to the reaction center of Photosystem II through resonant energy transfer mechanisms. In the special pair of chlorophylls of the reaction center the charge separation occurs, eventually leading to the oxidation of water molecules into protons, electrons and molecular oxygen. The adsorption properties of the antenna chlorophylls are ad hoc modulated by the protein environment to guarantee fast energy transfer and minimize side and back reactions. At the same time these properties are influenced by the molecular fluctuations occurring at physiological temperature. In the present work, combining classical "molecular dynamics simulations with the Charge Density Coupling method, we estimated the impact of the thermal fluctuations on the site energy shift of the chlorophylls embedded in the Photosystem II complex. Our results show how the effect of the molecular fluctuations is not homogeneous throughout the complex, although the symmetry of the homodimer is maintained. Many peripheral chromophores undergo fluctuations larger then 10 kJ/mol around the average values. Possible physiological roles of such fluctuations are discussed.

  • Details
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Type
conference paper
DOI
10.1016/j.bpc.2017.06.013
Web of Science ID

WOS:000413281300014

Author(s)
Narzi, Daniele  
Coccia, Emanuele
Manzoli, Marco
Guidoni, Leonardo
Date Issued

2017

Publisher

Elsevier Science Bv

Publisher place

Amsterdam

Published in
Biophysical Chemistry
Total of pages

6

Volume

229

Start page

93

End page

98

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
ISIC  
Event nameEvent placeEvent date
23rd National Congress of the Italian-Society-for-Pure-and-Applied-Biophysics (SIBPA)

Cortona, ITALY

SEP 18-21, 2016

Available on Infoscience
November 8, 2017
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/142011
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