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Scientists use x-ray laser to probe engines of photosynthesis by efwegbe erergeer
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Scientists use x-ray laser to probe engines of photosynthesis |
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Posted: Jun 6th, 2012 Scientists use X-ray laser to probe engines of photosynthesis ( Nanowerk News ) The molecular power plants that carry out photosynthesis are atthe root of a scientific quest to learn how they channel energyfrom sunlight to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. Understanding these fundamental processes could help scientistsdevelop technologies that replicate nature's handiwork to producecheaper and more efficient fuels. Now, an international research team led by scientists at LawrenceBerkeley National Laboratory and SLAC National AcceleratorLaboratory has used a powerful X-ray laser to shine new light on atiny cluster of molecules that is integral to an important stage ofphotosynthesis known as Photosystem II. The results were publishedJune 4 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( "Room temperature femtosecond X-ray diffraction of photosystemII microcrystals" ). This illustration shows an electron-density image of a PhotosystemII molecular cluster, based on data gathered from an LCLSexperiment.
Protein is displayed as yellow, the violet spheres aremanganese, and the orange orb is calcium. The team crystallized the molecular clusters, suspended thecrystals in liquid and injected them into the path of SLAC's X-raylaser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). Laser lightdiffracting off the crystals formed patterns that were used toreconstruct the composition and atomic structure of the clusters. In Photosystem II, plants absorb photons from sunlight to drivechemical reactions that oxidize water, splitting water moleculesinto hydrogen and oxygen. Electrons extracted from the water powerthe photosynthetic process, generating almost all the food andenergy that life on Earth depends on.
Junko Yano, staff scientist in the Physical Biosciences Division atBerkeley Lab and one of three leaders of the research team, said itis the very last step in Photosystem II the point at whichoxygen is released that has proved most difficult forresearchers to observe. The successful imaging of the crystallized molecules at LCLS givesthe team confidence that it can use the instrument to study othersteps of the photosynthetic process, she said. What's more, theimaging was done at room temperature and without the need to freezesamples, which can distort the results. Researchers achieved a resolution of 6.5 ngstroms an ngstrom is one ten-billionth of a meter for the structure ofthe crystallized clusters that they used in their data.
Someprevious experiments have achieved higher resolutions, but withfrozen crystals that may have been altered by X-rays. Jan Kern, a research scientist at SLAC and Berkeley Lab who was thelead author on the paper, said, "We hope that with improvedsamples, in the future we will be able to get to a higherresolution." Yano said one of the goals of photosynthesis research is developinga clean and affordable fuel out of common molecules like water andcarbon dioxide. "Is there any way to directly make a liquid fuelusing sunlight and water as a source? How are we going to do it?How efficiently can we do it?" she said. "That's what we're goingto learn from nature." LCLS is proving a valuable research tool in biological researchbecause its ultrashort, ultrabright pulses can provide data in thequadrillionths of a second before the sample is destroyed by thepowerful X-ray radiation. "Having a probe where you can study the Photosystem II mechanism inreal time, with a technique where you can probe before the sampleis destroyed, might really be the key to solving this question,"said team co-leader Uwe Bergmann, deputy director for the LCLS anda senior staff scientist at SLAC.
He said the research highlighted in the paper represents anexpansion of a longstanding collaboration in Photosystem IIresearch between researchers at SLAC and Berkeley Lab. Bergmann noted that there is still work to be done to sharpen theresolution of Photosystem II using X-ray lasers, which may bepossible with improvements in the crystal samples and in thedelivery systems used to stream the crystals across the X-ray laserbeam. There is an intense global scientific race to solve these long-keptsecrets in photosynthesis, particularly with the launch of newcapabilities in research made possible by X-ray lasers and the mostadvanced synchrotron sources. Team co-leader Vittal K. Yachandra, a senior scientist in thePhysical Biosciences Division at Berkeley Lab, said, "There is alot of competition, but it is exciting because there is so much todo." Researchers from Stanford University Department of Chemistry,Technical University Berlin in Germany, European SynchrotronRadiation Facility in Grenoble, France and Ume University inSweden had key roles in this research and participated in theexperiments at SLAC. I am an expert from Home & Garden, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as antique beveled mirror , food processor grater.
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