The D2 protein of Photosystem II has five transmembrane helices (A-E). An extended loop, connecting helices D and E, contributes to the binding environments of the primary quinone electron acceptor Q A , and that of the bicarbonate bound to the non-heme iron between Q A and the secondary quinone electron acceptor Q B . The residues from Ala240 to Thr243 are within a conserved sequence ( 240 AEETYSMVTAN 250 ) that contributes t...

The low-molecular-weight PsbM and PsbT proteins of Photosystem II (PS II) are both located at the monomer-monomer interface of the mature PS II dimer. Since the extrinsic proteins are associated with the final step of assembly of an active PS II monomer and, in the case of PsbO, are known to impact the stability of the PS II dimer, we have investigated the potential cooperativity between the PsbM and PsbT subunits and the PsbO...

The cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 has three copies of the psbA gene encoding the D1 reaction centre protein of Photosystem II (PS II). We have designed a mutagenesis system that allows introduction of mutations into the constitutively expressed psbA2 copy without affecting the expression of any flanking genes. A triple deletion strain was constructed in which psbA1 and psbA3 were removed by markerless deletions and...

Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 is a euryhaline cyanobacterium that serves as a model organism for studies of photosynthesis and cellular metabolism. At high light intensity Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 exhibits a fast growth rate and rapid biomass accumulation, making it an ideal candidate for the production of biofuels and commercially valuable secondary metabolites. To fully realise the production potential for this cyanobacterium...