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Abstract

To gain new insights into the function of photosystem II (PSII) herbicides DCMU (a urea herbicide) and bromoxynil (a phenolic herbicide), we have studied their effects in a better understood system, the bacterial photosynthetic reaction center of the terbutryn-resistant mutant T4 of Blastochloris (Bl.) viridis. This mutant is uniquely sensitive to these herbicides. We have used redox potentiometry and time-resolved absorption spectroscopy in the nanosecond and microsecond time scale. At room temperature the P+•QA-• charge recombination in the presence of bromoxynil was faster than in the presence of DCMU. Two phases of P+•QA-• recombination were observed. In accordance with the literature, the two phases were attributed to two different populations of reaction centers. Although the herbicides did induce small differences in the activation barriers of the charge recombination reactions, these did not explain the large herbicide-induced differences in the kinetics at ambient temperature. Instead, these were attributed to a change in the relative amplitude of the phases, with the fast:slow ratio being ∼3:1 with bromoxynil and ∼1:2 with DCMU at 300 K. Redox titrations of QA were performed with and without herbicides at pH 6.5. The Em was shifted by approximately −75 mV by bromoxynil and by approximately +55 mV by DCMU. As the titrations were done over a time range that is assumed to be much longer than that for the transition between the two different populations, the potentials measured are considered to be a weighted average of two potentials for QA. The influence of the herbicides can thus be considered to be on the equilibrium of the two reaction center forms. This may also be the case in photosystem II.