The oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) in the membrane-bound protein complex photosystem II (PSII) catalyzes the water oxidation reaction that takes place in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. We ...investigated the structural changes of the Mn4CaO5 cluster in the OEC during the S state transitions using x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Overall structural changes of the Mn4CaO5 cluster, based on the manganese ligand and Mn-Mn distances obtained from this study, were incorporated into the geometry of the Mn4CaO5 cluster in the OEC obtained from a polarized XAS model and the 1.9-Å high resolution crystal structure. Additionally, we compared the S1 state XAS of the dimeric and monomeric form of PSII from Thermosynechococcus elongatus and spinach PSII. Although the basic structures of the OEC are the same for T. elongatus PSII and spinach PSII, minor electronic structural differences that affect the manganese K-edge XAS between T. elongatus PSII and spinach PSII are found and may originate from differences in the second sphere ligand atom geometry.
Background: Mn4CaO5 cluster catalyzes water oxidation in photosystem II.
Results: Mn-Mn/Ca/ligand distances and changes in the structure of the Mn4CaO5 cluster are determined for the intermediate states in the reaction using x-ray spectroscopy.
Conclusion: Position of one bridging oxygen and related geometric changes may be critical during catalysis.
Significance: Knowledge about structural changes during catalysis is crucial for understanding the O–O bond formation mechanism in PSII.
Oxygen vacancies are widely used to tune the light absorption of semiconducting metal oxides, but a photophysical framework describing the impact of such point defects on the dynamics of ...photogenerated charges, and ultimately on catalysis, is still missing. We herein use WO3 as a model material and investigate the impact of significantly different degrees of oxygen deficiency on its excited state kinetics. For highly oxygen-deficient films, photoelectron spectroscopy shows an over 2 eV broad distribution of oxygen vacancy states within the bandgap which gives rise to extended visible light absorption. We examine the nature of this distribution using first-principles defect calculations and find that defects aggregate to form clusters rather than isolated vacancy sites. Using transient absorption spectroscopy, we observe trapping of photogenerated holes within 200 fs after excitation at high degrees of oxygen deficiency, which increases their lifetime at the expense of oxidative driving force. This loss in driving force limits the use of metal oxides with significant degrees of sub-stoichiometry to photocatalytic reactions that require low oxidation power such as pollutant degradation, and highlights the need to fine-tune vacancy state distributions for specific target reactions.
In plants, algae and cyanobacteria, Photosystem II (PSII) catalyzes the light-driven splitting of water at a protein-bound Mn4CaO5-cluster, the water-oxidizing complex (WOC). In the photosynthetic ...organisms, the light-driven formation of the WOC from dissolved metal ions is a key process because it is essential in both initial activation and continuous repair of PSII. Structural information is required for understanding of this chaperone-free metal-cluster assembly. For the first time, we obtained a structure of PSII from Thermosynechococcus elongatus without the Mn4CaO5-cluster. Surprisingly, cluster-removal leaves the positions of all coordinating amino acid residues and most nearby water molecules largely unaffected, resulting in a pre-organized ligand shell for kinetically competent and error-free photo-assembly of the Mn4CaO5-cluster. First experiments initiating (i) partial disassembly and (ii) partial re-assembly after complete depletion of the Mn4CaO5-cluster agree with a specific bi-manganese cluster, likely a di-µ-oxo bridged pair of Mn(III) ions, as an assembly intermediate.
The clustering of manganese-calcium (Mn4Ca) complex in photosynthesis is reported, focusing on how oxygen is produced through the photosynthetic oxidation of water in cyanobacteria, algae and plants. ...The process reveals where and how water is oxidized to dioxygen.
The structural and electronic properties of a series of manganese complexes with terminal oxido ligands are described. The complexes span three different oxidation states at the manganese center ...(III–V), have similar molecular structures, and contain intramolecular hydrogen-bonding networks surrounding the Mn–oxo unit. Structural studies using X-ray absorption methods indicated that each complex is mononuclear and that oxidation occurs at the manganese centers, which is also supported by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies. This gives a high-spin Mn ⱽ–oxo complex and not a Mn ᴵⱽ–oxy radical as the most oxidized species. In addition, the EPR findings demonstrated that the Fermi contact term could experimentally substantiate the oxidation states at the manganese centers and the covalency in the metal–ligand bonding. Oxygen-17–labeled samples were used to determine spin density within the Mn–oxo unit, with the greatest delocalization occurring within the Mn ⱽ–oxo species (0.45 spins on the oxido ligand). The experimental results coupled with density functional theory studies show a large amount of covalency within the Mn–oxo bonds. Finally, these results are examined within the context of possible mechanisms associated with photosynthetic water oxidation; specifically, the possible identity of the proposed high valent Mn–oxo species that is postulated to form during turnover is discussed.
Significance Metal complexes with terminal oxido ligands are important in a wide variety of transformations, including a high valent manganese-oxido unit that is involved in the O–O bond-forming step in photosynthetic water oxidation. Theoretical proposals suggest that a Mn ᴵⱽ–oxyl radical species is present, yet such species have not been observed experimentally. Using a combination of experimental measurements and theoretical calculations, we show here that the bonding within the Mn–oxido unit is best described as highly covalent, with 0.45 spins on the oxido ligand. These findings offer a counter explanation for the putative high valent manganese species in photosynthesis as an energetically accessible, high-spin Mn ⱽ–oxido unit instead of a Mn ᴵⱽ–oxyl radical species.
Light-driven oxidation of water to dioxygen in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria is catalyzed within photosystem II (PS II) by a Mn4Ca cluster. Although the cluster has been studied by many different ...methods, its structure and mechanism have remained elusive. X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy and extended X-ray absorption fine structure studies have been particularly useful in probing the electronic and geometric structures and the mechanism of the water oxidation reaction. Recent progress, reviewed here, includes polarized X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements of PS II single crystals. Analysis of those results has constrained the Mn4Ca cluster geometry to a set of three similar high-resolution structures. The structure of the cluster from the present study is unlike either the 3.0- or 3.5-Å-resolution X-ray structures or other previously proposed models. The differences between the models derived from X-ray spectroscopy and crystallography are predominantly because of damage to the Mn4Ca cluster by X-rays under conditions used for the structure determination by X-ray crystallography. X-ray spectroscopy studies are also used for studying the changes in the structure of the Mn4Ca catalytic center as it cycles through the five intermediate states known as the Si states (i = 0–4). The electronic structure of the Mn4Ca cluster has been studied more recently using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectroscopy (RIXS), in addition to the earlier X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy methods. These studies are revealing that the assignment of formal oxidation states is overly simplistic. A more accurate description should consider the charge density on the Mn atoms, which includes the covalency of the bonds and delocalization of the charge over the cluster. The geometric and electronic structures of the Mn4Ca cluster in the S states derived from X-ray spectroscopy are leading to a detailed understanding of the mechanism of O−O bond formation during the photosynthetic water-splitting process.
The fungus Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogen that can exploit imbalances in microbiome composition to invade its human host, causing pathologies ranging from vaginal candidiasis to fungal ...sepsis. Bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus are colonizers of human mucosa and can produce compounds with bioactivity against C. albicans. Here, we show that some Lactobacillus species produce a small molecule under laboratory conditions that blocks the C. albicans yeast-to-filament transition, an important virulence trait. It remains unexplored whether the compound is produced in the context of the human host. Bioassay-guided fractionation of Lactobacillus-conditioned medium linked this activity to 1-acetyl-β-carboline (1-ABC). We use genetic approaches to show that filamentation inhibition by 1-ABC requires Yak1, a DYRK1-family kinase. Additional biochemical characterization of structurally related 1-ethoxycarbonyl-β-carboline confirms that it inhibits Yak1 and blocks C. albicans biofilm formation. Thus, our findings reveal Lactobacillus-produced 1-ABC can prevent the yeast-to-filament transition in C. albicans through inhibition of Yak1.
The laboratory synthesis of the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II has been the objective of synthetic chemists since the early 1970s. However, the absence of structural information on ...the OEC has hampered these efforts. Crystallographic reports on photosystem II that have been appearing at ever-improving resolution over the past ten years have finally provided invaluable structural information on the OEC and show that it comprises a Mn₃CaO₄ distorted cubane, to which is attached a fourth, external Mn atom, and the whole unit attached to polypeptides primarily by aspartate and glutamate carboxylate groups. Such a heterometallic Mn/Ca cubane with an additional metal attached to it has been unknown in the literature. This paper reports the laboratory synthesis of such an asymmetric cubane-containing compound with a bound external metal atom, MnIV₃Ca₂O₄(O₂CBut)₈(ButCO₂H)₄(1). All peripheral ligands are carboxylate or carboxylic acid groups. Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility data have established 1 to possess an S = 9/2 ground state. EPR spectroscopy confirms this, and the Davies electron nuclear double resonance data reveal similar hyperfine couplings to those of other MnIV species, including the OEC S₂ state. Comparison of the X-ray absorption data with those for the OEC reveal 1 to possess structural parameters that make it a close structural model of the asymmetric-cubane OEC unit. This geometric and electronic structural correspondence opens up a new front in the multidisciplinary study of the properties and function of this important biological unit.
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