Reconstitution of iron-sulfur center B of Photosystem I damaged by mercuric chloride.

Incubation of thylakoid membranes from spinach with low concentrations of mercuric chloride induces the loss of one of the iron-sulfur centers, FB, in Photosystem I (PS I) and inhibits the electron transfer from PS I to the soluble electron carrier, ferredoxin. Reconstitution of this damaged iron-sulfur center has been carried out by incubating treated thylakoid membranes with exogenous FeCl3 and Na2S in the presence ofβ-mercaptoethanol under anaerobic conditions. Low temperature EPR measurements indicate that center FB is largely restored. Kinetic experiments show that the restored FB can be photoreduced from P700. However, these reconstituted thylakoid membranes are still incompetent in the photoreduction of ferredoxin and NADP(+), even though ferredoxin binding to the modified membranes was not impaired, indicating additional changes in the structure of the PS I complex must have occurred.