ON THE NATURE OF THE INTERMEDIATE ELECTRON ACCEPTOR (A1) IN THE PHOTOSYSTEM I REACTION CENTER

Abstract— A sodium dodecyl sulfate-Photosystem I (PSI) complex has been prepared and characterized with respect to its electron acceptors. Component X and iron-sulfur centers A and B are absent from this preparation but the intermediate electron acceptor (A₁) is present. Flash-induced absorbance changes at 25°C show charge separation, followed by a back-reaction with a half-time of 5 µs. The spectrum of the flash-induced change from 350 to 550 nm indicates a contribution from the intermediate electron acceptor, A₁, as well as from P700⁺. EPR studies show that A₁ is associated with a free-radical signal having a g-value of 2.0025 and a linewidth of 12 gauss. A, would appear to be associated with a monomeric form of either Chi α or pheophytin a.