Structural and Mechanistic Studies of the Oxygen Evolving Centre in Photosystem II

Photosystem II is the principal light trapping protein assembly driving the photoelectric conversion of light into metabolic energy in nature. A vital component of photosystem II is a Mn- and Ca-containing catalytic site, which is the most efficient system known for oxidising water. At present, the detailed structure of this site and the mechanism of water oxidation are unknown. This study will reveal the molecular structure and mechanism of the catalytic site in the photosystem protein and use this to reconstruct its key features in small, artificial systems. These will form the basis for new strategies of artificial photosynthetic hydrogen gas production from water, with oxygen gas as the clean by-product.