One of the Substrate Waters for O2 Formation in Photosystem II Is Provided by the Water-Splitting Mn4CaO5 Cluster's Ca2+ Ion.

During the catalytic step immediately prior to O-O bond formation in Photosystem II, a water molecule deprotonates and moves next to the water-splitting Mn4CaO5 cluster's O5 oxo bridge. Considerable evidence identifies O5 as one of the two substrate waters that ultimately form O2. The relocated oxygen, known as O6 or Ox, may be the second. It is currently debated whether O6 or Ox originates as the Mn-bound water denoted W2 or as the Ca2+-bound water denoted W3. To distinguish between these two possibilities, we analyzed the D-O-D bending mode of the water molecule that deprotonates/relocates to become O6/Ox. We show that this D-O-D bending mode is not altered by the D1-S169A mutation. Previously, we showed that this D-O-D bending mode is altered substantially when Sr2+ is substituted for Ca2+. Because Sr2+/Ca2+ substitution alters this D-O-D bending mode but the D1-S169A mutation does not, we conclude that the water-derived oxygen that relocates and becomes O6/Ox derives from the Ca2+-bound W3. This conclusion provides an important constraint for proposed mechanisms of O-O bond formation in Photosystem II.