Scientists have managed to uncover an essential part of the photosynthesis process, the part that focuses on the first and particularly fast steps during which the photosynthetic proteins capture light and use it to initiate a series of electron transfer reactions
[Translation by Dr. Nachmani Moshe]
Plants have been utilizing the sun's energy for hundreds of millions of years. Algae and photosynthetic bacteria also do this, even for a longer time, in a particularly efficient and complex process. It is not surprising, therefore, that scientists are trying to fully understand this mechanism in the hope of using the insights to improve man-made devices based on a similar mechanism, such as solar panels and detectors.
Scientists from the National Laboratory, an organization of the US Department of Energy, in collaboration with scientists from Washington University in St. Louis, recently uncovered a vital part of this age-old mystery, focusing on the initial and extremely fast steps during which photosynthetic proteins capture light and use it to initiate a series of reactions to transfer electrons. "In order to understand how biology fuels all the activities of animals and plants, you must first understand the mechanism of electron transfer," explains the lead researcher. "The movement of electrons inside the cells is particularly important." In creatures that carry out photosynthesis, these processes begin with the absorption of a photon of light by a designated dye found in proteins. Each photon transfers an electron through a membrane that is within defined complexes in the cell." The separation of charge along the membrane - and the stabilization of this charge - is an essential step since it is the one that creates the energy that fuels cell growth," says the researcher
About thirty-five years ago, when the structures of these complex complexes were revealed for the first time, scientists were surprised to discover that after the absorption of light, the electron transfer processes face a dilemma: there are two possible paths in which the electrons can move. In nature, plants, algae and bacteria that carry out photosynthesis use only one of these possible pathways - and scientists have no explanation as to why this pathway was chosen. What they did know is that the passage of the electron through the membrane while utilizing the photon energy requires several steps. The researchers were able to interfere with each of these steps while changing the trajectory of the electron. "We have been on this path for over three decades and this is a tremendous achievement that opens up many opportunities for us," explains the chief researcher.
Changing the path of the electron
The researchers' new paper, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes how they uncovered an engineered version of this protein coupling that changes the possible pathways, turning one on and the other off. "It is amazing that we were able to change the direction of the initial transition of the electron," explains the researcher. "In nature, the electron always "chooses" the same path. However, with the help of our efforts, we were able to make the electron flow in the alternative path in ninety percent of the cases. These findings present us with fascinating research questions for the near future."
As a result of their efforts, scientists are now closer than ever before to beginning to design electron transfer systems consisting of pre-arranged pathways. "This is a very important finding since we were able to obtain the ability to utilize the energy flow in order to understand the design principles that will lead to new applications of similar systems," says the researcher. "This research will allow us to significantly improve the efficiency of many devices powered by solar energy, so that in the end they will be smaller and cheaper. We have a tremendous opportunity here to establish a completely new field of light-based biochemical reactions, ones that are not known in nature. If We will succeed in this, the results will be amazing."
One response
Only that, as usual, in any natural process that man touches, only that they don't spoil! Let's not sleep! My grandmother told me: don't fix things that aren't broken