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AKB: Biologische Physik

AKB 23: Photo-Biophysics

AKB 23.4: Talk

Thursday, March 30, 2006, 17:00–17:15, ZEU 255

Evaluation of a Possible Pathway for Ubiquinone Shutteling in the Photosynthetic Unit of the Purple Bacteria Rhodospirillum rubrum — •Andrew Aird¹, Carsten Tietz¹, Jörg Wrachtrup¹, and Klaus Schulten² — ¹3. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart — ²Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The core complex of the photosynthetic unit of the purple bacteria Rhodospirillum rubrum plays a cruical role in the conversion of light into chemical energy. In the reaction center a Quinone molecule functions as electron carrier to transport the electrons, created in the first step of photosynthesis, from the inside of the core complex to the Cytochrome bc₁-complex. The exact pathway of the Quinone molecule is still unknown. Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the shutteling of the Quinone molecule were performed to see if the molecule is able to diffuse through the closed LH1 ring.