10EG

Thermosynechococcus vestitus (BP-1) Photosystem I Complexed with Platinum Nanoparticles

Summary for 10EG

• Entry DOI: 10.2210/pdb10eg/pdb
• EMDB information: 75106
• Descriptor: Photosystem I P700 chlorophyll a apoprotein A1, Photosystem I reaction center subunit XI, Photosystem I reaction center subunit XII, ... (20 entities in total)
• Functional Keywords: nanoparticles, biohybrid, photosystem, photosynthesis
• Biological source: Thermosynechococcus vestitus BP-1; More
• Total number of polymer chains: 36
• Total formula weight: 1080635.83

Authors

Emerson, M.D.,Gisriel, C.J. (deposition date: 2026-01-15, release date: 2026-07-01)

Primary citation

Emerson, M.D.,Damaraju, S.N.S.,Short, A.H.,Alvord, Z.B.,Palmer, Z.A.,Mehra, H.S.,Brininger, C.M.,Vermaas, J.V.,Utschig, L.M.,Gisriel, C.J.
Molecular design principles for Photosystem I-based biohybrid solar fuel catalysts.
Biorxiv, 2026

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 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.

PubMed: 41929101
DOI: 10.64898/2026.03.23.713776

Experimental method

ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (3.4 Å)