ABSTRACT
The basic principles of the design of direct multiparticle models and the results of multiparticle computer simulation of electron transfer by mobile protein carriers in the photosynthetic membrane of a chloroplast thylakoid are presented. The reactions of complex formation of the protein plastocyanin with the protein cytochrome f and the pigment-protein complex of photosystem I, as well as of the protein ferredoxin with the protein FNR and photosystem 1 are considered. The role of diffusion and electrostatic interactions is discussed, and the effect of the shape of the reaction volume and ionic strength on the rate of electron transport are discussed.
Subject(s)
Computer Simulation , Cytochromes f/chemistry , Ferredoxins/chemistry , Models, Biological , Photosystem I Protein Complex/chemistry , Thylakoids/chemistry , Electron Transport , Ferredoxin-NADP Reductase/chemistry , Plastocyanin/chemistry , Protein Binding , Static ElectricityABSTRACT
A multiparticle computer model of plastocyanin-cytochrome f complex formation in the thylakoid lumen has been designed, which takes electrostatic interactions of proteins and the thylakoid membrane into account. The Poisson-Boltzmann formalism was used to determine the electrostatic potential field generated by the electrical charges of the proteins and the thylakoid membrane for different ionic strength values. The role of electrostatic field of the thylakoid membrane in plastocyanin-cytochrome f complex formation was determined. Using the model, the rate constant of plastocyanin-cytochrome f reaction for different values of ionic strength and membrane surface charge were calculated.
