Skip to main content
  • Submit
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • PNAS Staff
    • FAQ
    • Rights and Permissions
  • Contact
  • Journal Club
  • Subscribe
    • Subscription Rates
    • Subscriptions FAQ
    • Open Access
    • Recommend PNAS to Your Librarian
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Latest Articles
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • Archive
  • Front Matter
  • News
    • For the Press
    • Highlights from Latest Articles
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Purpose and Scope
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • For Reviewers
    • Author FAQ
  • Submit
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • PNAS Staff
    • FAQ
    • Rights and Permissions
  • Contact
  • Journal Club
  • Subscribe
    • Subscription Rates
    • Subscriptions FAQ
    • Open Access
    • Recommend PNAS to Your Librarian

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Home
Home

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Latest Articles
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • Archive
  • Front Matter
  • News
    • For the Press
    • Highlights from Latest Articles
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Purpose and Scope
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • For Reviewers
    • Author FAQ

New Research In

Physical Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Applied Mathematics
  • Applied Physical Sciences
  • Astronomy
  • Computer Sciences
  • Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
  • Engineering
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Mathematics
  • Statistics

Social Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Anthropology
  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Economic Sciences
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Political Sciences
  • Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
  • Social Sciences

Biological Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Agricultural Sciences
  • Anthropology
  • Applied Biological Sciences
  • Biochemistry
  • Biophysics and Computational Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Ecology
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Evolution
  • Genetics
  • Immunology and Inflammation
  • Medical Sciences
  • Microbiology
  • Neuroscience
  • Pharmacology
  • Physiology
  • Plant Biology
  • Population Biology
  • Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
  • Sustainability Science
  • Systems Biology

Quinone-dependent proton transfer pathways in the photosynthetic cytochrome b6f complex

S. Saif Hasan, Eiki Yamashita, Danas Baniulis and William A. Cramer
PNAS February 25, 2013. 201222248; published ahead of print February 25, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1222248110
S. Saif Hasan
aDepartment of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907;
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Eiki Yamashita
bInstitute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan; and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Danas Baniulis
cInstitute of Horticulture, Lithuanian Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry, Babtai LT-54333, Lithuania
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
William A. Cramer
aDepartment of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907;
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: waclab@purdue.edu
  1. Edited by Harry B. Gray, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, and approved February 1, 2013 (received for review December 19, 2012)

  • Article
  • Figures & SI
  • Authors & Info
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

As much as two-thirds of the proton gradient used for transmembrane free energy storage in oxygenic photosynthesis is generated by the cytochrome b6f complex. The proton uptake pathway from the electrochemically negative (n) aqueous phase to the n-side quinone binding site of the complex, and a probable route for proton exit to the positive phase resulting from quinol oxidation, are defined in a 2.70-Å crystal structure and in structures with quinone analog inhibitors at 3.07 Å (tridecyl-stigmatellin) and 3.25-Å (2-nonyl-4-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide) resolution. The simplest n-side proton pathway extends from the aqueous phase via Asp20 and Arg207 (cytochrome b6 subunit) to quinone bound axially to heme cn. On the positive side, the heme-proximal Glu78 (subunit IV), which accepts protons from plastosemiquinone, defines a route for H+ transfer to the aqueous phase. These pathways provide a structure-based description of the quinone-mediated proton transfer responsible for generation of the transmembrane electrochemical potential gradient in oxygenic photosynthesis.

  • membrane protein
  • transmembrance electrochemical gradient
  • respiration

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: waclab{at}purdue.edu.
  • Author contributions: W.A.C. designed research; S.S.H., E.Y., and D.B. performed research; W.A.C. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; S.S.H., E.Y., D.B., and W.A.C. analyzed data; and S.S.H. and W.A.C. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • Data deposition: The atomic coordinates and structure factors have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank, www.pdb.org [PDB ID codes 4H44 (native cyt b6f structure), 4H13 (tridecyl-stigmatellin–containing structure), and 4H0L (2-nonyl-4-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide–containing structure)].

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1222248110/-/DCSupplemental.

Next
Back to top
Article Alerts
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on PNAS.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Quinone-dependent proton transfer pathways in the photosynthetic cytochrome b6f complex
(Your Name) has sent you a message from PNAS
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the PNAS web site.
Citation Tools
Proton transfer by cytochrome b6f
S. Saif Hasan, Eiki Yamashita, Danas Baniulis, William A. Cramer
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Feb 2013, 201222248; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1222248110

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
Proton transfer by cytochrome b6f
S. Saif Hasan, Eiki Yamashita, Danas Baniulis, William A. Cramer
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Feb 2013, 201222248; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1222248110
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Mendeley logo Mendeley

More Articles of This Classification

Biological Sciences

  • COBLL1 modulates cell morphology and facilitates androgen receptor genomic binding in advanced prostate cancer
  • Coupling MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry protein and specialized metabolite analyses to rapidly discriminate bacterial function
  • Polycomb protein SCML2 facilitates H3K27me3 to establish bivalent domains in the male germline
Show more

Biophysics and Computational Biology

  • Efficient models of polymerization applied to FtsZ ring assembly in Escherichia coli
  • Complex role of NK cells in regulation of oncolytic virus–bortezomib therapy
  • Enzymatic control of dioxygen binding and functionalization of the flavin cofactor
Show more

Related Content

  • No related articles found.
  • Scopus
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited by...

  • Structure of the plant photosystem I
  • Protein Degradation Rate in Arabidopsis thaliana Leaf Growth and Development
  • Trans-membrane Signaling in Photosynthetic State Transitions: REDOX- AND STRUCTURE-DEPENDENT INTERACTION IN VITRO BETWEEN STT7 KINASE AND THE CYTOCHROME b6f COMPLEX
  • Why chloroplasts and mitochondria retain their own genomes and genetic systems: Colocation for redox regulation of gene expression
  • Activation of cyclic electron flow by hydrogen peroxide in vivo
  • Functional Characterization of the Small Regulatory Subunit PetP from the Cytochrome b6f Complex in Thermosynechococcus elongatus
  • Scopus (35)
  • Google Scholar

Similar Articles

You May Also be Interested in

Karina Guziewicz and Artur Cideciyan explain a potential gene therapy approach for macular degeneration.
Gene therapy for retinal disease
Karina Guziewicz and Artur Cideciyan explain a potential gene therapy approach for macular degeneration.
Listen
Past PodcastsSubscribe
PNAS Profile of Alexander Rudensky, winner of the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science
PNAS Profile
PNAS Profile of Alexander Rudensky, winner of the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science
Ambrosia beetles, which bore into host trees and cultivate fungi, select trees with elevated ethanol content because ethanol promotes growth of preferred fungal species.
Fungus-farming beetles use alcohol to screen symbionts
Ambrosia beetles, which bore into host trees and cultivate fungi, select trees with elevated ethanol content because ethanol promotes growth of preferred fungal species.
Image courtesy of Gernot Kunz (Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Graz, Austria).
A study examines the walking and climbing capabilities of human ancestors.
Evolution of human locomotion
A study examines the walking and climbing capabilities of human ancestors.
Researchers have engineered the complete biosynthetic pathway for a potential cancer drug into a single yeast strain, paving the way toward the commercial brewing of medically important compounds.
Brewer’s yeast engineered to produce potential cancer drug
Researchers have engineered the complete biosynthetic pathway for a potential cancer drug into a single yeast strain, paving the way toward the commercial brewing of medically important compounds.
Image courtesy of Pixabay/Republica.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 115 (16)
Current Issue

Submit

Sign up for Article Alerts

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Figures & SI
  • Authors & Info
  • PDF
Site Logo
Powered by HighWire
  • Submit Manuscript
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feeds
  • Email Alerts

Articles

  • Current Issue
  • Latest Articles
  • Archive

PNAS Portals

  • Classics
  • Front Matter
  • Teaching Resources
  • Anthropology
  • Chemistry
  • Physics
  • Sustainability Science

Information for

  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • Press

Feedback    Privacy/Legal

Copyright © 2018 National Academy of Sciences.