Structural and dynamic aspects of electron transfer in proteins — highly organized natural nanostructures

Abstract

The review briefly outlines theoretical models developed in 1990s to describe electron transfer reactions (ETR) in proteins, as well as different variants of improvements in these models proposed by the present authors to describe ETR in reaction centers (RC) of photosynthetic bacteria with consideration of their molecular dynamics in a wide temperature range. Experimental data on electron transfer from reduced proximal heme c-559 of cytochrome to bacteriochlorophyll dimer radical cation P+ in RC from two types of bacteria, viz., native and mutant RC from Rps. viridis and native RC from Rps. sulfoviridis were analyzed within the framework of the models which take into account the quantum and classical (including diffusive) degrees of freedom responsible for reorganization of the protein globule.