Orientational Jahn–Teller Isomerism in the Dark‐Stable State of Nature's Water Oxidase

Photosystem II is the site of photosynthetic water oxidation and contains 20 subunits with a total molecular mass of 350 kDa. The structure of photosystem II has been reported at resolutions from 3.8 to 2.9 Å. These resolutions have provided much information on the arrangement of protein subunits and cofactors but are insufficient to reveal the detailed structure of the catalytic centre of water splitting. Here we report the crystal structure of photosystem II at a resolution of 1.9 Å. From our electron density map, we located all of the metal atoms of the Mn(4)CaO(5) cluster, together with all of their ligands. We found that five oxygen atoms served as oxo bridges linking the five metal atoms, and that four water molecules were bound to the Mn(4)CaO(5) cluster; some of them may therefore serve as substrates for dioxygen formation. We identified more than 1,300 water molecules in each photosystem II monomer. Some of them formed extensive hydrogen-bonding networks that may serve as channels for protons, water or oxygen molecules. The determination of the high-resolution structure of photosystem II will allow us to analyse and understand its functions in great detail. ©2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

Photosynthesis converts light energy into biologically useful chemical energy vital to life on Earth. The initial reaction of photosynthesis takes place in photosystem II (PSII), a 700-kilodalton homodimeric membrane protein complex that catalyses photo-oxidation of water into dioxygen through an S-state cycle of the oxygen evolving complex (OEC). The structure of PSII has been solved by X-ray diffraction (XRD) at 1.9 ångström resolution, which revealed that the OEC is a Mn4CaO5-cluster coordinated by a well defined protein environment. However, extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) studies showed that the manganese cations in the OEC are easily reduced by X-ray irradiation, and slight differences were found in the Mn-Mn distances determined by XRD, EXAFS and theoretical studies. Here we report a 'radiation-damage-free' structure of PSII from Thermosynechococcus vulcanus in the S1 state at a resolution of 1.95 ångströms using femtosecond X-ray pulses of the SPring-8 ångström compact free-electron laser (SACLA) and hundreds of large, highly isomorphous PSII crystals. Compared with the structure from XRD, the OEC in the X-ray free electron laser structure has Mn-Mn distances that are shorter by 0.1-0.2 ångströms. The valences of each manganese atom were tentatively assigned as Mn1D(III), Mn2C(IV), Mn3B(IV) and Mn4A(III), based on the average Mn-ligand distances and analysis of the Jahn-Teller axis on Mn(III). One of the oxo-bridged oxygens, O5, has significantly longer distances to Mn than do the other oxo-oxygen atoms, suggesting that O5 is a hydroxide ion instead of a normal oxygen dianion and therefore may serve as one of the substrate oxygen atoms. These findings provide a structural basis for the mechanism of oxygen evolution, and we expect that this structure will provide a blueprint for the design of artificial catalysts for water oxidation.

Oxygenic photosynthesis in plants, algae and cyanobacteria is initiated at photosystem II, a homodimeric multisubunit protein-cofactor complex embedded in the thylakoid membrane. Photosystem II captures sunlight and powers the unique photo-induced oxidation of water to atmospheric oxygen. Crystallographic investigations of cyanobacterial photosystem II have provided several medium-resolution structures (3.8 to 3.2 A) that explain the general arrangement of the protein matrix and cofactors, but do not give a full picture of the complex. Here we describe the most complete cyanobacterial photosystem II structure obtained so far, showing locations of and interactions between 20 protein subunits and 77 cofactors per monomer. Assignment of 11 beta-carotenes yields insights into electron and energy transfer and photo-protection mechanisms in the reaction centre and antenna subunits. The high number of 14 integrally bound lipids reflects the structural and functional importance of these molecules for flexibility within and assembly of photosystem II. A lipophilic pathway is proposed for the diffusion of secondary plastoquinone that transfers redox equivalents from photosystem II to the photosynthetic chain. The structure provides information about the Mn4Ca cluster, where oxidation of water takes place. Our study uncovers near-atomic details necessary to understand the processes that convert light to chemical energy.