In vitro photocurrents from spinach thylakoids following Mn depletion and Mn-cluster reconstitution

Abstract

Biohybrid devices that generate an electrical signal under the influence of light due to photochemical reactions in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes have many prospects. On the one hand, the oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II allows the use of ubiquitous water as a source of electrons for photoinduced electron transfer in such devices, on the other hand, it is the most vulnerable part of the photosynthetic apparatus. From the perspective of sustainable operation of bio-based hybrid devices, it is helpful to analyze how removing or modifying the Mn cluster will affect the performance of the bio-hybrid device. This work analyzed photocurrent generation in a liquid three-electrode solar cell based on manganese-depleted and reactivated thylakoid membranes. Membranes lacking Mn could not produce any significant photocurrent until manganese chloride was added. After adding MnCl<inf>2</inf>, the cell could produce current when exposed to light. This current was about a few percent from cells with intact thylakoid membranes. However, the photoactivation procedure made it possible to restore up to 75 % of the photocurrent of cells based on intact thylakoid membranes. The main objective of this work is to answer the question about the possibility of photocurrent generation in a biohybrid system based on thylakoid membranes using artificial analogs of the native oxygen-evolving complex. Photoactivation with manganese chloride is the simplest way to obtain preparations devoid of the native Mn cluster, but capable of oxidizing water. © 2024 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.