Awesome Artcle: Photosynthesis in Algae

[toastywombel]

“This is quantum mechanics in a biological system,” says study coauthor Gregory Scholes, a physical chemist at the University of Toronto.

 

Check it out!

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I have to say I am quite surprised not many people are interested in commenting on this article .

[Horza2002]

I thought something like this had been known to go on for a while...but maybe I'm wrong.

 

I know that often H+ in enzymes tunnel between enzyme and substrate in a lot of enzymes in biological systems.

[Narroo]

I thought something like this had been known to go on for a while...but maybe I'm wrong.

 

I know that often H+ in enzymes tunnel between enzyme and substrate in a lot of enzymes in biological systems.

 

I thought so too.

Isn't that why it's green?

[Greippi]

This is very interesting. One of the main developing fields in photosynthesis research is mapping out how the photosynthetic machinery arrange themselves on the photosynthetic membrane (using techniques such as AFM; couple of references below if anyone's interested). The arrangement has implications for the high efficiency of the system even if a component is knocked out. This quantum idea makes the picture fall in to place a lot more - exciting stuff!

 

 

Sener MK, Olsen JD, Hunter CN, and Schulten K (2007) Atomic level structural and functional model of a bacterial photosynthetic membrane vesicle . PNAS USA 104, 15723-15728

 

Dror Noy (2008) Natural photosystems from an engineer’s perspective: length, time, and energy scales of charge and energy transfer. Photosynthesis Research 95:23–35

 

And here's the reference to the original Nature paper the article was based on:

Nature 463, 614-615

Edited July 23, 2010 by Greippi

[jimmydasaint]

Great find. I have read something similar about bacteriochlorophyll. However, can someone explain this quote to me, because I don't understand it.

 

These long-lasting quantum effects may help explain the mystery of why the initial electron-moving reactions in photosynthesis are so efficient. In an extreme version of the algae’s quantum-mechanical trick, electrons could simultaneously take all the possible paths to a photosystem and decide after they arrived which route was best. “That vibrating electron could put some feelers out and see which path to take,” Scholes says.

 

Link

[Darthoper]

Not to take away from this article and I know its of topic... but please post one more time for the counts sake... ;P