Shuttles of artificial electron donors for photosystem I across the thylakoid membrane

NADP+ reduction in isolated chloroplasts of spinach by photosystem I at the expense of various artificial donor systems is not inhibited by the plastoquinome antagonist dibromothymoquinone. The coupled ATP formation in such photoreductions is attributed to an artificial energy conserving site, i. e. a proton liberation during oxidation of the donor at the inner surface of the thylakoid membrane. Some donor systems for photosystem I are stimulated by uncouplers whereas others are not. The stimulation shows no correlation to the efficiency of the coupled photophosphorylation. Instead a correlation of the stimulation by uncouplers to the presence of an acidic OH-group in the donor molecule is seen. The uncoupler effect is therefore not explained by a release of electron transport control by the high energy state but rather by a pH-dependent distribution of the donor compound across the membrane. This is supported by the properties of donor systems in sonicated chloroplast particles with external oxidation sites of photosystem I.