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| Title | Molecular design principles for Photosystem I-based biohybrid solar fuel catalysts. |
|---|---|
| Journal, issue, pages | Biorxiv, Year 2026 |
| Publish date | Jan 15, 2026 (structure data deposition date) |
Authors | Maximino D Emerson / Siva Naga Sai Damaraju / Audrey H Short / Zachary B Alvord / Zsolt A Palmer / Himanshu S Mehra / Christian M Brininger / Josh V Vermaas / Lisa M Utschig / Christopher J Gisriel / ![]() |
| PubMed Abstract | Direct solar-to-chemical conversion offers a compelling route to clean, dispatchable energy. Photosystem I (PSI), an evolutionarily optimized light-driven oxidoreductase central to oxygenic ...Direct solar-to-chemical conversion offers a compelling route to clean, dispatchable energy. Photosystem I (PSI), an evolutionarily optimized light-driven oxidoreductase central to oxygenic photosynthesis, can be repurposed for direct solar-fuel production by efficiently coupling its photochemistry to catalysts, thereby storing sunlight as chemical energy in the H-H bond of H2. One promising architecture integrates PSI with Pt nanoparticle (PtNP) catalysts to create photocatalytic PSI-PtNP biohybrids. Advancing these systems requires molecular-level insight into protein-nanoparticle interactions and the bio-nano electron transfer pathways that govern activity; however, progress has been constrained by limited structural data to guide rational design. Here, we present two molecular structures of active PSI-PtNP assemblies that (a) compare thermophilic and mesophilic PSI scaffolds and (b) probe how removal of the terminal [4Fe-4S] clusters and stromal subunits in PSI reshapes protein-nanoparticle interfaces and photocatalysis. Structural analyses and molecular dynamics simulations define the interface topology, electrostatics, and cofactor-to-nanoparticle distances, revealing key molecular features that control biohybrid formation and electron transfer efficiency. These data establish mechanistic links between scaffold composition, bio-nano interface geometry, and catalytic performance, yielding design principles for optimizing PSI-PtNP architectures. The resulting structure-function insights provide a blueprint for engineering PSI-based solar-fuels systems and, more broadly, inform the design of protein-nanomaterial interfaces for light-driven catalysis. |
External links | Biorxiv / PubMed:41929101 / PubMed Central |
| Methods | EM (single particle) |
| Resolution | 3.4 Å |
| Structure data | ![]() PDB-10eg: |
| Chemicals | ![]() ChemComp-CL0: ![]() ChemComp-CLA: ![]() ChemComp-PQN: ![]() ChemComp-BCR: ![]() ChemComp-LHG: ![]() ChemComp-SF4: ![]() ChemComp-LMG: ![]() ChemComp-CA: |
| Source |
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Keywords | PHOTOSYNTHESIS / Nanoparticles / Biohybrid / Photosystem |
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