Chapter category: Agricultural Biotechnology
Signal Transduction Techniques for Photosynthetic Proteins
Biotechnological Applications of Photosynthetic Proteins: Biochips, Biosensors and Biodevices
Edited by: Maria Teresa Giardi and Elena V. PiletskaISBN: 0-387-33009-7
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Chapter authors:
P. Cosma, F. Longobardi and Angela Agostiano
The red-ox processes of biomacromolecules play an essential role in living systems: a series of electron-transfer reactions between donors and acceptors substances, immobilized in the membrane or dissolved in the aqueous phase, are involved in the conversion of solar energy in photosynthetic systems or in the cell respiration process. On the other hand it is well known the catalytic role of proteins in signal transduction pathway mediating the substrate metabolism in several living process. The red-ox character of the components from the most relevant biological apparatus, suggests the use of electrochemical methods to follow the reactions that occurs during the metabolic processes. Although the interferences of metal electrodes with complex biological systems have often discouraged their use, recent improvements in the electrochemical devices (properly designed cell, modified electrodes etc.) and in the biochemical preparation methods, together with the formulation of new theoretical models makes the electrochemical methods of analysis highly sensitive to the red-ox path of biological systems and very competitive to supply thermodynamic and kinetic information on the species involved. In photosynthetic proteins, the primary charge separation and the sequence of electron transfer reactions can be utilized in the photosignal generation in electrochemical cells. The signal is the result of a combination of photophysical, photochemical and electrochemical events. The first is related with electronic excitation followed by charge separation, the second deals with reactions of excited molecules and finally, the electrochemical step involves a charge transfer at the interface between the electrolyte and the electrode. Electrodes can be directly involved in exchanging electrons with the cofactors of the proteins. Two general strategic approaches have been taken in the literature. One is to adsorb photochemically competent samples directly onto electrodes thereby establishing a direct electrochemical contact between the two,1-35 while the other involves suspensions of membrane samples in conjunction with exogenous acceptors and/or donors.36-50 In both cases, the electrons arriving at the acceptor side of the photosystems are intercepted by the working electrode of the cell instead of the physiological acceptors. A brief description of the most electrochemical techniques used in photosynthetic studies and some of their applications are reviewed below, with the aim of illustrating the potentiality of these techniques in obtaining information on the nature and dynamics of the red-ox species involved within biological processes.
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P. Cosma, F. Longobardi and Angela Agostiano
The red-ox processes of biomacromolecules play an essential role in living systems: a series of electron-transfer reactions between donors and acceptors substances, immobilized in the membrane or diss...
