Photosynthesis mechanism proposed

Abstract

A research team at the University of California, Berkeley, says that recent experiments cast doubt on the currently prevalent concept, called the Z scheme, of photooxidation of water by green plants and subsequent generation of reduced ferrodoxin. The team, led by professor of cell physiology and research biochemist Daniel I. Arnon and including research associates Harry Y. Tsujimoto and George M. S. Tang, has proposed an alternative hypothesis for the process, which, Arnon says, explains his group's results and fits well with other recent discoveries on the structure of chloroplasts [ Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci , 78 , 2942 (1981)]. Their work is funded in part by the National Science Foundation. Central to Arnon's experiments and theory is the role of plastoquinone in the photosynthetic electron transport process that reduces ferrodoxin. Ferrodoxin is a soluble protein with an iron-sulfur prosthetic group found in all photosynthetic cells. It acts as a source of reducing power. In the photosynthetic reduction ...