Transfer of light-induced electron-spin polarization from the intermediary acceptor to the prereduced primary acceptor in the reaction center of photosynthetic bacteria.

In reaction centers and chromatophores of photosynthetic bacteria strong light-induced emissive ESR signals have been found, not only after a flash but also under continuous illumination. The signal, with g = 2.0048 and delta Hpp = 7.6 G, is only present under reducing conditions in material in which the primary acceptor, ubiquinone, U and its associated high-spin ferrous ion are magnetically uncoupled. its amplitude under continuous illumination is strongly dependent on light intensity and on microwave power. The emissive signal is attributed to the prereduced primary acceptor, U-, which becomes polarized through transfer of spin polarization by a magnetic exchange interaction with the photoreduced, spin polarized intermediary acceptor, I-. A kinetic model is presented which explains the observed dependence of emissivity on light intensity and microwave power. Applying this analysis to the light saturation data, a value of the exchange rate between I- and U- of 4.10(8) s-1 is derived, corresponding to an exchange interaction of 3--5 G.