Sequestered Proton Domains in Chloroplast Bioenergetics

叶绿体能量学中的隔离质子结构域：将叶绿体重新悬浮在蔗糖或氯化钾中会影响它们随后对单一周转闪光激发和ATP形成的反应。这一突破性的观察将被用来确定如何以及何时利用叶绿体中光合作用电子传输形成的质子梯度来合成ATP以及影响这些反应的因素。自从15年前Peter Mitchell博士提出的由质子梯度驱动的ATP合成的化学渗透理论被普遍接受以来，一直存在争议，有人认为在活体条件下局部的质子结构域参与了转导，另一些人声称在体内和体外只有质子在体相之间移动。这项研究的结果有可能解决这一争议，并确定每种机制成立的条件。所有生物体所使用的大部分生物能量都是基于这种反应。因此，它成为我们生物能量知识的基石。

Sequestered Proton Domains in Chloroplast Energetics: Resuspending chloroplasts in sucrose or potassium chloride affects their subsequent response to single turnover flash excitation and to ATP formation. This breakthrough observation will be used to determine how and when proton gradients formed as a result of photosynthetic electron transport in chloropasts are used to synthesize ATP and the factors effecting these reactions. Since the chemosmotic theory of ATP synthesis driven by a proton gradient originally postulated by Dr. Peter Mitchell was generally accepted about 15 years ago there has been a controversy between those who claim that under in vivo conditions localized proton domains are involved in the transduction and those who claim that only protons moving between bulk phases are involved both in vivo and in vitro. The results of this research have the potential of settling the the controversy and defining the conditions under which each mechanism holds. Most of the biological energy used by all organisms is based on this reaction. It, therefore, becomes a keytstone of our bioenergetic knowledge.