Effects of Dark Adaptation on Light-Induced Electron Transport through Photosystem I in the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

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K. N. Timofeev¹, G. V. Kuznetsova¹, and I. V. Elanskaya^2*

¹Department of Biophysics and ²Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119992 Moscow, Russia; fax: (7-095) 939-2957; E-mail: ivelanskaya@mail.ru

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received December 16, 2004; Revision received March 14, 2005

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Kinetics of the redox reactions in the reaction center (P700) of photosystem I (PSI) of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 have been studied by EPR spectroscopy. The redox kinetics were recorded based on accumulation of the EPRI signal when the final signal was the sum of individual signals produced in response to illumination of the cells. After prolonged (more than 3 sec) dark intervals between illuminations, the kinetic curve of the EPR signal from P700⁺ was multiphasic. After a sharp increase in the signal amplitude at the beginning of illumination (phase I), the amplitude rapidly (for 0.1-0.2 sec) decreased (phase II). Then the signal amplitude gradually increased (phase III) until the steady rate of electron transfer was established. With short-term (1 sec) dark intervals between the flashes and also in the presence of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU), the kinetics of the light-induced increase in the EPR signal from P700⁺ were monophasic. Inhibition with iodoacetamide of electron transport on the acceptor side of PSI under anaerobic conditions or an increase in the amount of respiration substrates on addition of glucose into a suspension of DCMU-treated wild-type cells increased the level of P700 reduction in phase III. The findings suggest that the kinetic curve of the EPR signal from P700⁺ is determined by both the electron entrance onto P700⁺ on the donor side of PSI and activity of electron acceptors of PSI.

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KEY WORDS: cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803, electron transport, photosystem I, EPR spectroscopy

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