Scientists from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers from Sweden, Germany, and the UK, have made a breakthrough in understanding the final step of photosynthesis. They have observed in atomic detail how Photosystem II, a protein complex found in plants, undergoes a transformation that leads to the loss of an extra oxygen atom. The discoveries are expected to provide a roadmap for optimizing clean energy sources. Uwe Bergmann, scientist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who co-authored the paper, said, “It’s really going to change the way we think about Photosystem II.”
Researchers used “extremely high-resolution images” of different stages of the process (at room temperature), giving them new insight into specifically how and where the oxygen is produced. The process can be illustrated using a baseball metaphor. “The center cycles through four stable oxidation states,…
2023-05-03 16:49:47
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