title: Directed mutagenesis indicates that the donor to P+680 in photosystem II is tyrosine-161 of the D1 polypeptide.
abstract: Photosystem II contains two redox-active tyrosines. One of these, YZ, reduces the reaction center chlorophyll, P680, and transfers the oxidizing equivalent to the oxygen-evolving complex. The second, YD, has a long-lived free radical state of unknown function. We recently established that YD is Tyr-160 of the D2 polypeptide by site-directed mutagenesis of a psbD gene in the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803 [Debus, R. J., Barry, B. A., Babcock, G. T., & McIntosh, L. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 427-430]. YZ is most likely the symmetry-related Tyr-161 of the D1 polypeptide. To test this hypothesis, we have changed Tyr-161 to phenylalanine by site-directed mutagenesis of a psbA gene in Synechocystis. The resulting mutant assembles PSII, as judged by its ability to produce the stable Y+D radical, but is unable to grow photosynthetically and exhibits altered fluorescence properties. The nature of the fluorescence change indicates that forward electron transfer to P+680 is disrupted in the mutant. These results provide strong support for our identification of Tyr-161 in the D1 polypeptide with YZ.
authors.affiliation: MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Debus
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sithole
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Babcock
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McIntosh
mesh_terms: D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005609:Free Radicals; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005609:Free Radicals; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex; D010940:Plant Proteins; D002734:Chlorophyll; D014443:Tyrosine