Premium
The role of electrostatics in proton‐conducting membrane protein complexes
Author(s) -
Lancaster C.Roy D.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(03)00393-4
Subject(s) - proton , static electricity , electrostatics , chemistry , transmembrane protein , electrochemical gradient , electron transfer , membrane protein , electron transport chain , membrane , proton pump , chemiosmosis , biophysics , chemical physics , photochemistry , biochemistry , atp synthase , atpase , biology , physics , enzyme , receptor , quantum mechanics
Electrostatic interactions play a key role in the coupling of electron and proton transfer in membrane protein complexes during the conversion of the energy stored in sunlight or reduced substrates into biochemical energy via a transmembrane electrochemical proton potential. Principles of charge stabilization within membrane proteins are reviewed and discussed for photosynthetic reaction centers, cytochrome c oxidases, and diheme‐containing quinol:fumarate reductases. The impact of X‐ray structure‐based electrostatic calculations on the functional interpretation of these structural coordinates, on providing new explanations for experimental observations, and for the design of more focused additional experiments is illustrated by a number of key examples.