The Watersplitting System of Photosynthesis I. A Postulated Model

Abstract

For the natural donor of photosynthetic photosystem II an operational model is postulated. This model combines a definite structural pattern of two types of electron donors (octahedral arrangement of 6 secondary donors around a primary donor) with conformational state dependent electron transfer probability. It is shown that the model provides an explanation of many experimental data, especially the kinetics of the “priming” reactions of the watersplitting system can be quantitatively described.