Substrate water binding and oxidation in photosystem II

This mini review presents a general introduction to photosystem II with an emphasis on the oxygen evolving complex. An attempt is made to summarise what is currently known about substrate interaction in the oxygen evolving complex of photosystem II in terms of the nature of the substrate, the timing and the location of its binding. As the nature of substrate water binding has a direct bearing on the mechanism of O-O bond formation in PSII, a discussion of O-O bond formation follows the summary of current opinion in substrate interaction.