Open AccessModeling the electron transport chain of purple non‐sulfur bacteria
Author(s) -
Klamt Steffen,
Grammel Hartmut,
Straube Ronny,
Ghosh Robin,
Gilles Ernst Dieter
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
molecular systems biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.523
H-Index - 148
ISSN - 1744-4292
DOI - 10.1038/msb4100191
Subject(s) - electron transport chain , redox , biology , respiratory chain , cytochrome , electron transfer , photosynthesis , rhodobacter sphaeroides , anoxygenic photosynthesis , rhodospirillaceae , biophysics , biochemistry , cellular respiration , photochemistry , phototroph , chemistry , mitochondrion , enzyme , organic chemistry
Purple non‐sulfur bacteria (Rhodospirillaceae) have been extensively employed for studying principles of photosynthetic and respiratory electron transport phosphorylation and for investigating the regulation of gene expression in response to redox signals. Here, we use mathematical modeling to evaluate the steady‐state behavior of the electron transport chain (ETC) in these bacteria under different environmental conditions. Elementary‐modes analysis of a stoichiometric ETC model reveals nine operational modes. Most of them represent well‐known functional states, however, two modes constitute reverse electron flow under respiratory conditions, which has been barely considered so far. We further present and analyze a kinetic model of the ETC in which rate laws of electron transfer steps are based on redox potential differences. Our model reproduces well‐known phenomena of respiratory and photosynthetic operation of the ETC and also provides non‐intuitive predictions. As one key result, model simulations demonstrate a stronger reduction of ubiquinone when switching from high‐light to low‐light conditions. This result is parameter insensitive and supports the hypothesis that the redox state of ubiquinone is a suitable signal for controlling photosynthetic gene expression.