Chloride and calcium in Photosystem II: from effects to enigma(*)

This minireview focuses on the early evidence for roles of chloride and calcium ions in reactions of photosynthetic electron transport and on the reluctance with which an essential function of these inorganic ions in the process of water oxidation was accepted. For example, Daniel Arnon's group initially refuted the conclusion of Otto Warburg, the discoverer of a 'chloride effect,' that chloride was a 'coenzyme.' Their reasoning was that chloride had not been shown to be an essential mineral nutrient of plants. In the case of calcium, the problem was that the first 'calcium effects' had been seen with preparations from cyanobacteria rather than from green plants. While today the status of calcium and chloride as essential participants in the process of water oxidation is rarely disputed, the nature of their involvement still eludes all experimental inquiries. Substantial progress in this respect may come from recent refinements of the application of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy to the study of photosynthetic water oxidation.