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Photosynthetic reaction center from Rhodobacter sphaeroides under light (1aig) and dark (1aij) conditions

The iron lies towards the cytoplasmic side and the bacteriochlorophyll dimer lies towards the periplasmic side of the membrane.

• What structural elements are present in the protein?
• What is the subunit composition?
• What is the distance between metal centers?
• What is the coordination geometry about each metal ion?
• What has occurred during photoexcitation? Hint: You will need to align the structures.

Stowell, M. H. B., T. M. McPhillips, D. C. Rees, S. M. Soltis, E. Abresch, and G. Feher. 1997. Light-induced structural changes in photosynthetic reaction center: implications for mechanism of electron-proton transfer. Science 276:812-816.

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