Plants have visible chloroplasts from a moss.
A team of chemists at Yale has created blueprints for a key enzyme that may contain design principles for a new generation of synthetic solar fuel catalysts.
Gary Brudvig and Christopher Gisriel from Yale are leading a research project that uses a microscope to get a close-up picture of the photosystem II, the enzyme that uses water as a solar fuel.
The study was co-authored by researchers from the University of California-Riverside, Boston College, and City University of New York.
Plants use sunlight to synthesise food from carbon dioxide and water, and fill the atmosphere with oxygen as a byproduct. Photosystem II is an oxidizer that takes away electrons from water to use as fuel.
Scientists have long sought ways to mimic this process to create more efficient solar fuel catalysts. It has been difficult for scientists to understand the results of their experiments without a clear picture of Photosystem II's structure.
Yale created a snapshot of Photosytem II from Synechocystis in an immature stage before it was capable of water oxidation. The researchers were able to understand how the enzyme is built.
In the new study, the researchers were able to see the active form of the Synechocystis in its mature form, with all of the activity that is present during water oxidation. One of the most detailed looks ever done for Photosystem II in Synechocystis can be found in the observation.
The director of the Energy Sciences Institute, Brudvig, said that at this resolution, they can see the mechanisms of water oxidation. The study's author is Brudvig.
In some cases, we can see the contribution of individual protons.
The researchers say they will be able to see how small changes to the enzyme affect its function with this new up- close view of Photosystem II.
Gisriel is a research associate in chemistry and the study's first author. The platform we've done here provides a way to deconstruct the system and give the design principles for synthetic solar fuel catalysts.
The study was co-authored by Jimin Wang, Jinchan Liu, David Flesher, Krystle Reiss, Hao-Li Huang, Ke Yang, and Victor Batista. The other co-authors are M.R. Gunner from City College of New York, and Richard Debus from the University of California-Riverside.
The structure of photosystem II from the mesophilic cyanobacterium, sp. has been revealed. The National Academy of Sciences has a journal.
The National Academy of Sciences has a journal.
A superstar Enzyme is ready for its close-up on December 20th, 2021.
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