U.S.-France Cooperative Research: Study of Electrostatic Interactions in Bacteria Photochemical Reaction Center Proteins

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This three-year award supports U.S.-France cooperative research in photosynthesis between Marilyn Gunner of City College of New York and Pierre Sebban of the Laboratory for Photosynthetic Bacteria at the French National Center for Scientific Research. The objective of their research is to investigate the interaction between proton residues and quinones in reaction centers of photosynthetic bacteria. They will evaluate proton uptake and electron transfer. The U.S. investigator brings to this collaboration expertise in computation and theory. The calculations will be carried out at City College. This is complemented by French experimental expertise. Experimental measurements of the in situ electrochemistry and proton uptake will be made on wild type and mutant reaction centers. This combined theoretical and experimental effort will advance our understanding of electron transfer in photosynthetic systems and the structure of reaction centers to their function. These are important goals of photosynthesis research.