Structure of a biohybrid photosystem I-platinum nanoparticle solar fuel catalyst
Biohybrid solar fuel catalysts leverage natural light-driven enzymes to produce valuable fuel products. One useful biological platform for such a system is photosystem I, a pigment-protein complex that captures sunlight and converts it into chemical energy with near unity quantum efficiency, which generates low potential reducing equivalents for metabolism. Realizing and understanding the molecular basis for an approach that utilizes those electrons and stores solar energy as a fuel is therefore appealing. Here, we report the 2.27-Å global resolution cryo-EM structure of a photosystem I complex with bound platinum nanoparticles that catalyzes light-driven H<sub>2</sub> production. The platinum nanoparticle binding sites and possible stabilizing interactions are described. Overall, the investigation reveals a direct structural look at a photon-to-fuels photosynthetic biohybrid system.
Authors
- Jan Paul Menzel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1312-5000)
- Lisa M. Utschig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2095-5392)
- Tianyin Qiu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3490-8469)
- Gary W. Brudvig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7040-1892)
- Tirupathi Malavath
- Christopher J. Gisriel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8011-0052)
- Víctor S. Batista (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3262-1237)
Institutions
- Argonne National Laboratory (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Yale University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-11-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53476-y
- Citations
- 8
- Primary Topic
- Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.87
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Yale University
- Michigan State University
- National Institutes of Health
- College of Engineering, Michigan State University
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences
- Basic Energy Sciences
- Argonne National Laboratory