[On the influence of local molecular environment on the redox potential of electron transfer cofactors in bacterial photosynthetic reaction centers].

The addition of cryosolvents (glycerol, dimethylsulfoxide) to a water solution containing bacterial photosynthetic reaction centers changes the redox potential of the bacteriochlorophyll dimer, but does not affect the redox potential of the quinone primary acceptor. It has been shown that the change in redox potential can be produced by changes of the electrostatic interactions between cofactors and the local molecular environment modified by additives entered into the solution. The degree of influence of a solvent on the redox potential of various cofactors is determined by degree of availability of these cofactors for molecules of solvent, which depends on the arrangement of cofactors in the structure of reaction centers.

[Effect of chemical chaperones on properties of lysozyme and the reaction center protein from Rhodobacter sphaeroides].

The influence of three chemical chaperones: glycerol, 4-hexylresorcinol, and 5-methylresorcinol on the structure, equilibrium fluctuations, and the functional activity of the hydrophilic enzyme lysozyme and the transmembrane reaction center (RC) protein from Rb. sphaeroides in a broad range of concentrations has been studied. Selected chemical chaperones are strongly different by the structure and action on hydrophilic and membrane proteins. The influence of the chemical chaperones (except methylresorcinol) on the structure, dynamics, and functional properties of lysozyme and RC protein are well described within the frames of extended models of preferential hydration and preferential interaction of protein with a chemical chaperone. A molecule of hexylresorcinol consists of a hydrophobic (alkyl radical) and a hydrophilic (aromatic nuclus) moieties. This fact provides additional regulation of functional activity of lysozyme and RC by hexylresorcinol. The influence of methylresorcinol on proteins differs from that of glycerol and hexylresorcinol. Methylresorcinol interacts with the surface of lysozyme directly, not via water hydrogen bonds. This leads to a decrease in denaturation temperature T(d), and an increase in the amplitude of equilibrium fluctuation, which allows him to be a powerful activator. Methylresorcinol interacts with the membrane RC protein only by the condensation of hydration water, which is negligible in the case of methylresorcinol. Therefore, methylresorcinol does not effect the functional properties of the RC protein. It was concluded that various chaperones at one and the same concentration and chaperones at different concentrations form diverse 3D structures of proteins, which differ by dynamic and functional characteristics.

[The analysis of kinetics of recombination of photodivided charges in the Rhodobacter sphaeroides photosynthetic reaction centers using relaxation time constant distribution method].

The kinetics of dark recombination of charges photodivided between the bacteriochlorophyll dimer (P) and the quinone acceptors of the photosynthetic reaction centers (RCs) of Rhodobacter sphaeroides has been studied. The electron transfer between P and the quinone acceptors of times of light activation from 1 to 60 s was investigated. The relaxation time constant distribution was computed from experimental kinetic curves of charge recombination using an original method developed by the authors. In this method, relaxation curves are approximated by a set of Gaussian-like peaks in the time domain that correspond to different conformational substates of reaction centers. As the time of photoactivation increases, some peaks shift toward larger relaxation times. A bifurcation of the peaks was observed for the activation times from 20 to 30 s. The phenomenon is interpreted as evidence of the conformational transition induced by separated charges in the structure of reaction centers.

[On the electron stabilization within the quinone acceptor part of Rhodobacter sphaeroides photosynthetic reaction centers].

The time evolution of the photoinduced differential absorption spectrum of isolated Rhodobacter sphaeroides photosynthetic reaction centers was investigated. The measurements were carried out in the spectral region of 400-500 nm on the time scale of up to 200 microseconds. The spectral changes observed can be interpreted in terms of the effects of proton shift along hydrogen bonds between the primary quinone acceptor and the protein. A theoretical analysis of the spectrum time evolution was performed, which is based on the consideration of the kinetics of proton tunneling along the hydrogen bond. It was shown that the stabilization of the primary quinone electronic state occurs within the first several tens of microseconds after quinone reduction. It slows down upon the deuteration of reaction centers as well as after adding 90% of glycerol; on the other hand, it accelerates as temperature rises up to 40 degrees C.

[Effect of energy status of hydrogen bond protons on the rate of electron transfer in photosynthetic reaction centers].

We present here a theoretical interpretation of the temperature dependence of the rate of dark recombination which takes place in Rhodobacter sphaeroides reaction centers between a primary quinone (Q(A)) and a bacteriochlorophyll dimer. Taking the energy of interaction between hydrogen bond protons and an excessive electron into account, we described qualitative by this nonmonotonous dependence. We considered a molecular model of the primary quinone from Rb. sphaeroides reaction centers. In addition to the primary quinone, the model includes two reaction center fragments that form hydrogen bonds with Q(A). One of these fragments is His(M219), and the other is the peptide [Asn(M259) - Ala(M260)]. We used the two-center approach with regard for electron-phonon interaction in order to calculate the characteristic time of electron tunneling during the recombination reaction. The energy of the phonon emitted/absorbed during the electron tunneling is determined by a relative shift of the donor and the acceptor energy levels, the detuning of levels. The value of level detuning was shown to be temperature dependent in a nonmonotonous manner in the case of hydrogen bonds with double-well potential energy surface. The characteristic time (or the reaction rate) depends on temperature parametrically. The dependence is nonmonotonous and is in qualitative agreement with the experimental one.

[A study of protein structure changes during hydration by means of diffuse X-ray scattering. II. Fourier transform analysis of X-ray scattering data].

Radial distribution functions were deduced by Fourier transform analysis of angular dependences of diffuse x-ray scattering intensities for the following proteins with different hydration degree: water-soluble a-protein myoglobin, water-soluble alpha+beta protein lysozyme, and transmembrane proteins of photosynthetic reaction centers from purple bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Blastochlorii viridis. The results of Fourier analysis of x-ray scattering intensities give the quantitative characteristics of the mechanisms underlying the influence of water on the formation of biomacromolecules. Water, on the one hand, weakens the intraglobular hydrogen bond net, loosens the protein structure, and increases the internal conformational dynamics. Concurrently water arranges the stability and ordering of the macromolecule. A sharp correlation is observed between the shift of the "first" peak of radial distribution functions, the weakening of the intraglobular hydrogen bond net, the increase in intraglobular mobility, and the appearance of functional activity in macromolecules. The behavior of the "first" peak is similar to that observed in transmembrane protein of reaction center and water-soluble proteins. The "first" peak for transmembrane protein of reaction center reaches its maximum value much faster (at smaller hydration degrees) than for water-soluble proteins. The fast transfer of reaction center protein to its native state during hydration is due to the fact that the dehydrated conformation of reaction center protein is very close to the native one. From a comparison of the radial distribution functions for water, water-soluble proteins and transmembrane proteins, one may conclude that water has the lowest packing density and the lowest order; water-soluble proteins have a larger packing density and are more ordered than water, and transmembrane proteins have the highest degree of packing density and ordering.

[Kinetics of pigment-acceptor interaction induced by steady-state illumination in Synechocystis spaeroides photosystem I preparations cooled to 160 K in the dark and on light].

The kinetics of dark reduction of chlorophyll P700 oxidized by steady-state illumination in photosystem I reaction center preparations of cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. coolled in the dark to 160 K is greatly nonexponential. The characteristic times for the components of the reaction are from fractions of a second to minutes and more. During cooling reaction center preparations on actinic light, a great part of chlorophyll P700 is fixed at 160 K in oxidized state. The kinetics of dark reduction of P700+ in the fraction of reaction centers that retain the photochemical activity in these conditions is faster than the kinetics in samples cooled in the dark. A theoretical analysis of the substantial deceleration of the P700+ dark recovery kinetics was done for photosystem I reaction center preparations oxidized by steady-state illumination to 160 K in contrast with situation that arises after the oxidation of reaction centers by single short light pulses. The deceleration of the kinetics in samples activated by steady-state illumination can be explained by processes of microconformational relaxation, connected with proton shifts in the reaction center structure.

[A study of protein structure changes during hydration by diffuse X-ray scattering. I. The intensity and the shape of "10-angstrom" maximum].

The angle dependencies of diffuse x-ray scattering intensities were studied in a wide range of angles from 3 to 80 degrees for water-soluble and membrane proteins with a different structural organization: alpha-helical protein myoglobin, alpha-helical protein serum albumen, alpha + beta protein lysozyme, and transmembrane proteins of photosynthetic reaction centers (RC) from purple bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides, and Blastochlorii (Rhodopseudomonas) viridis containing cytocrome c, situated out side the membrane, and for H and L+M subunits of membrane protein of reaction center from Rb. sphaeroides for various hydration degrees. The hydration/dehydration process was studied for water-soluble proteins (within hydration range from h = 0.05 to h = 1). The hydration/dehydration process appears to be reversible. All water-soluble proteins show a 10 angstroms peak, and proteins of reaction center do not show this peak. A quantitative comparable study of the behaviour for of the 10 angstroms peak different proteins the degree of lysozyme hydration increases from h = 0.05 to h = 0.45, the protein structure slightly changes (most probably the motifoffolding), the structure of myoglobin in solution is slightly different from the structure in crystal. By taking into account the changes in the shape and intensity of the 10 angstroms peak only, it is impossible to make the conclusion about structural changes in other proteins studied. A correlation between the structural changes observed and dynamic and functional properties of proteins is discussed.

[Possible effect of structural phase transition in the reactive center of Rhodobacter sphaeroides on the rate of dark adaptation of photooxidized bacteriochlorophyll from primary quinone]. / Vozmozhnoe vliianie strukturnogo fazovogo perekhoda v reaktsionnykh tsentrakh Rhodobacter sphaeroides na skorost' temnovogo vosstanovleniia fotookislennogo bakteriokhlorofilla ot pervichnogo khinona.

The dependence of the rate of dark recombination between the photooxidized primary donor--dimer bacteriochlorophyll molecule (P) and reduced primary quinone acceptor (QA), P+QA(-)-->PQA was studied in photosynthetic reaction centers (RC) from Rhodobacter sphaeroides in the temperature range of 100-320 K. Control RC preparations, RC species with the removed H-subunit as well as RC samples with the hydrogen bonds network modified by isotopic D2O-H2O substitution were investigated. An anomalous temperature dependence of the recombination time (tau rec) of dark reaction P+QA(-)-->PQA was found for all RC samples. It was found that upon heating from 120 to 290 K tau rec increased 2.5 fold. However, upon further heating to 320 K, tau rec decreased again. The temperature dependences of the P+QA(-)-->PQA recombination time were compared with those of the thermodepolarization current of RC preparations in the same temperature range. The temperature curve of the thermodepolarization current was also nonmonotonous. The theoretical interpretation of the temperature dependence of tau rec as well as of the thermodepolarization current was made in the framework of the theory of structural phase transitions within the hydrogen bond network in the water-protein surrounding of the redox centers participating in the electron transfer reactions.

[Effects of relaxation processes on the temperature dependence of oxidation rate of photooxidized bacteriochlorophyll on the primary quinone in reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides]. / Vliianie relaksatsionnykh protsessov na temperaturnuiu zavisimost' skorosti vosstanovleniia fotookislennogo bakteriofilla ot pervichnogo khinona v reaktsionnykh tsentrakh Rhodobacter sphaeroides.

The temperature dependence of the time of dark recombination of charges between photooxidized bacteriochlorophyll and reduced primary quinone acceptor (tau e) in Rhodobacter sphaeroides photosynthetic reaction centers was studied in the temperature range 140-320 K. It was found that the function tau e = tau e(T) is nonmonotonous: in the temperature range from 140 to 290 K, tau e is increased from 40 to 100 ms; however, under further heating to 320 K, tau e decreased to 80 ms. The replacement of H2O by D2O in these preparations caused an acceleration of the recombination process in the range of physiological temperatures, but the nonmonotonous character of the function tau e(T) remained. The theoretical interpretation of the results was made in the framework of the theory of electron-phonon interactions with allowance for the relaxation processes.

[Effect of dipyridamole on recombination of photooxidized bacteriochlorophylla and photoreduced primary quinone in reactive centers of purple bacteria and degradation of form M412 of bacteriorhodopsin]. / Bliiane dipiridamola na rekombinatsiiu fotookislennogo bakteriokhlorofilla i fotovosstanovlennogo pervichnogo khinona v reaktsionnykh tsentrakh purpurnykh bakterii i raspad formy M412 bakteriorodopsina.

It is shown that the addition of dipyridamole (2,6-bis(diethanolamino)-4,8-dipiperidinopyrimido[5,4d]py rim idine) (up to 10(-4) M) leads to a drastic acceleration of the dark recombination reaction between photooxidized bacteriochlorophyll and photoreduced primary quinone in reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The value of the acceleration is similar to that registered under cryogenic temperatures. The extent of the effect of dipyridamole derivatives depended on their structure. In wild-type bacteriorhodopsin and D96N mutant, dipyridamole slowed down the Schiff base reprotonation (the kinetics of M412 form decay was registered). It is suggested that dipyridamole can influence the structural and dynamic state of membrane proteins by affecting the system of their hydrogen-bonds and thus modify electron and proton transport processes.

[The effect of millimeter-band radiation of nonthermal intensity on sensitivity of Staphylococcus to various antibiotics]. / Vliianie millimetrovogo izlucheniia neteplovoi intensivnosti na chuvstvitel'nost' stafilokokka k razlichnym antibiotikam.

The affect of preliminary irradiation of staphylococcus culture by electromagnetic radiation of extremely high frequency (42, 54, 66 + 78 GHz) of nonthermal intensity on the bacteria growth on the media containing various antibiotics is studied. The reliable change in bacteria sensitivity toward 5 antibiotics, mainly having membranotropic properties is observed in the experiments using 14 antibiotics with various mechanisms of action. It has been established that in the presence of subbactericide concentrations of active antibiotics the irradiation could result in both further suppression of bacteria growth and its stimulation. As shown, the development of these effects takes place even in a matter of minutes of preliminary irradiation, and weak changes are observed at further increase of this period up to 60 min.

[Effect of dehydration on the primary picosecond stages of charge separation in Rhodospirillum rubrum]. / Vliianie obezvozhivaniia na pervuchnye pikosekundnye stadii razdeleniia zariadov u Rhodospirillum rubrum.

Effects of dehydration on the quantum yield of charge separation in the reaction centres, fluorescence and nanosecond recombination luminescence in R. rubrum chromatophores have been investigated. It has been shown that dehydration results in more than a 10 times decrease in the quantum efficiency of photosynthesis. Besides, photoinduced fluorescence changes practically disappear in dehydrated samples and the parameters of nanosecond luminescence substantially change. These observations indicate that strong dehydration causes a deterioration of the primary charge separation process at the early picosecond stages of excitation energy transduction into energy of separated charges. This is, probably, due to either changes in the dynamic characteristics of the reaction centre pigment-protein complex or alteration in the structure state (spacings and mutual orientations) of the primary reactants involved in the primary charge separation.

[Thermoluminescence and electric polarization in chloroplasts]. / Termoliuminestsentsiia i élektricheskaia poliarizatsiia v khloroplastakh.

Exposure of pea chloroplasts to electric field causes the appearance of a new thermoluminescence (TL) band at--(40-50) degrees C and a reduction of the intensity of its main bands. Extents of intensity drop are different for different components of TL and depend on the temperature of illumination. The charge traps responsible for the individual TL components seem to be localized in microsurroundings having different field susceptibility. The electric field effects observable at different temperatures are in correlation with the thermodepolarization currents which reflect the mobility and number of charged groups undergoing a field-induced displacement in chloroplast membranes. Dehydration. of chloroplast film preparations causes a reduction in the intensities of the TL peaks and thermodepolarization currents and a shift of the peaks positions toward higher temperatures. It is assumed that the traps of the recombining charges have two different conformations, each with its own frequency factor for the recombination reaction. Changes in the thermoluminescence behavior in applied electric field are due to the polarization of the traps, which increases the existence probability of a conformation with a high frequency factor.

[Intramolecular dynamics and electron transfer in photosynthetic reaction centers. A study using luminescence]. / Vnutrimolekuliarnaia dinamika i perenos élektrona v fotosinteticheskikh reaktsionnykh tsentrakh. Issledovanie metodom liuminestsentsii.

The temperature dependences of fluorescence and phosphorescence spectra maxima of chromophor labels--endogenic (tryptophan) and exogenic (eosinisothiocyanate)--were measured for the preparations of photosynthetic membranes and reaction centers from Rhodospirillum rubrum. It was found that the dipole mobility of protein-lipid matrix in the vicinity of the chromophores intensified markedly with a temperature rise from 150 to 300K resulting in the corresponding relaxation time tau r decrease from 10(0) to 10(-8) s. The efficiency of direct transfer of the photomobilized electron in the system of quinone acceptors (A1- leads to A2) of reaction centers (characteristic half-times of the process being 10(-3) divided by 10(-4) s) was shown also to increase sharply at temperatures higher than 200K parallel to the enhancement of molecular motions with tau r approximately 10(-8) s. Meanwhile, changes observed in the rate of recombination of primary photoproducts, i.e. an oxidized bacteriochlorophyll dimer, P+ and a reduced acceptor, A1- (characteristic half-time of 10(-1) divided by 10(-2) s) and the activization of low-frequency motions with tau r approximately 10(-3) s in the external layers and tau r less than 1 s in the internal parts of the reaction centers protein develop over the same range of low temperatures (150-220 K). The nature of interactions which determine the dependence of the photosynthetic electron transport on the molecular mobility of the membrane proteins is discussed.

[Effect of deuteration on the kinetics of photoinduced electron transport in the reaction centers of purple bacteria]. / Vliianie deiterirovaniia na kinetiku fotoindutsirovannogo perenosa élektrona v reaktsionnykh tsentrakh purpurnykh bakterii.

Substitution of H2O for D2O in the preparations of reaction centres from chromatophore membranes of photosynthesizing bacteria Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides, 1760-1 results in a decrease of the efficiency of direct electron transfer from photoreduced primary quinone X1- to the secondary ones and in rising possibilities for reversible reaction X1- with photooxidized bacteriochlorophyll. The value of isotope effect which does not usually exceed 1.2 depends on temperature; it is not found in the temperature range below -60 degrees divided by -80 degrees C.

[Polarization of photosynthetic membranes and reaction centers of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides 1760-1 in an external electrical field]. / Poliarizatsiia fotosinteticheskikh membran i reaktsionnykh tsentrov iz Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides, 1760-1 vo vneshnem élektricheskom pole.

Electric fields as high as 10(5) V/cm cause polarization of chromatophores and reaction centre films prepared from photosynthesizing bacteria. Photosynthetic pigments, carotenoids in particular, the absorption spectra of which are changed in response to electric fields, may serve as an intrinsic indicator of the development of a polarized state. Polarization occurs due to changes in orientation and spacial position of different charge groups and particles. The field-induced polarized state can be fixed up by exposure to low temperature (-120 degrees C). While heating the system relaxes to the initial state and this can be seen as a current in an electric circuit. The effects of hydration, chemical modification or heat treatment on current indicate the involvement of macromolecule components in the formation of a polarized state, In light-adapted samples the polarization effect is markedly greater and this can indicate that conformational changes occur during the primary photoact. It is supposed that polarization might be implicated in the stabilization of separated charges and in the storage of energy.

[Conformational mobility and functional activity of photosynthetic reaction centers of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides]. / Konformatsionnaia podvizhnost' i funktsional'naia aktivnost' fotosinteticheskikh reaktsionnykh tsentrov iz Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides.

In pigment-protein complexes of photosynthetic reaction centres (RC's), extracted from chromatophore membranes of Rps. sphaeroides with sodium dodecylsulphate, functional activity and intramolecular mobility were studied as a function of temperature and hydration by use of the technique of optical absorbance and ESR spectroscopy. Over the studied temperature range from +20 to -120 degrees C and at a relative humidity (P/Ps) from 0.9 to 0.1, there observed a close interrelationship between reversible kinetic changes of direct and backward redox-reactions of the photo-reduced endogeneous acceptor of quinone nature and the effective parameter of the correlation time of the rotational diffusion of the hydrophobic spin probe as well as of spin labels chemically bound to SH- and COOH-groups of amino acid residues of the RC's protein. The findings support the view that the conformational dynamics in the RC controls the effectiveness of the primary processes of stabilization of photochemically separated charges.