title: Re-emerging structures: continuing crystallography of the bacterial reaction centre.
abstract: The reaction centre is nature's solar battery, and is found in a number of variations on a common theme in plants, algae and photosynthetic bacteria. During the last 20 years, a combination of X-ray crystallography, spectroscopy and mutagenesis has provided increasingly detailed insights into the mechanism of light energy transduction in the bacterial reaction centre. This mini-review looks at the application of X-ray crystallography to the bacterial reaction centre, focussing in particular on recent information on the structural consequences of site-directed mutagenesis, the roles played by water molecules in the reaction centre, the mechanism of ubiquinone reduction, and studies of the phospholipid environment of the protein.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, School of Medical Sciences, University of Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Fyfe
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D006540:Herbicides / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009154:Mutation; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010788:Photosynthesis; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012242:Rhodobacter sphaeroides; D012241:Rhodopseudomonas; D014451:Ubiquinone / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D006540:Herbicides; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; D014867:Water; D014451:Ubiquinone