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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Studying the Supramolecular Organization of Photosynthetic Membranes within Freeze-fractured Leaf Tissues by Cryo-scanning Electron Microscopy
Published on: June 23, 2016
Structure of plant photosystem I revealed by theoretical modeling
Craig Jolley1, Adam Ben-Shem, Nathan Nelson
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281-1504, USA.
Abstract:
Photosystem (PS) I is a large membrane protein complex vital for oxygenic photosynthesis, one of the most important biological processes on the planet. We present an "atomic" model of higher plant PSI, based on theoretical modeling using the recent 4.4 angstroms x-ray crystal structure of PSI from pea. Because of the lack of information on the amino acid side chains in the x-ray structural model and the high cofactor content in this system, novel modeling techniques were developed. Our model reveals some important structural features of plant PSI that were not visible in the crystal structure, and our model sheds light on the evolutionary relationship between plant and cyanobacterial PSI.
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