REVIEW: Dielectric and Photoelectric Properties of Photosynthetic Reaction Centers

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C. S. Chamorovsky¹, S. K. Chamorovsky², and A. Yu. Semenov^1*

¹Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology and ²Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia; fax: (7-095) 939-3181; E-mail: semenov@genebee.msu.su

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received July 27, 2004

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A brief review of studies of dielectric and photoelectric properties of photosynthetic reaction centers of purple bacteria as well as photosystem I and photosystem II of cyanobacteria and higher plants is given. A simple kinetic model of the primary processes of electron transfer in photosynthesis is used to discuss possible mechanisms of correlation between rate constant of charge transfer reaction, free energy of electron transition, and effective dielectric constant in the locus of corresponding carriers.

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KEY WORDS: photosynthetic reaction center complexes, photosynthetic bacteria, photosystems I and II, cyanobacteria, electron transfer, membrane potential, dielectric constant

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