Bioenergetics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Extracellular electron uptake (EEU) is the ability of microbes to take up electrons from solid-phase conductive substances such as metal oxides. Here, Guzman et al. show that electrons enter the photosynthetic electron transport chain and are used for CO2 fixation during EEU in a phototrophic bacterium.

    • Michael S. Guzman
    • , Karthikeyan Rengasamy
    •  & Arpita Bose

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Assessing biological circuit connections in single cells has been intractable due to lack of appropriate tools. Here, Bleck et al. develop a method to assess mitochondrial network connectivity in muscle cells and observe clear differences consistent with differing energy requirements.

    • Christopher K. E. Bleck
    • , Yuho Kim
    •  & Brian Glancy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cytochrome c oxidase (CytcO) is the last enzyme of the electron transport chain, but how the electrochemical membrane potential affects CytcO is unclear. Here the authors show that proton uptake to the catalytic site of CytcO and presumably proton translocation was impaired by the potential, but electron transfer was not affected.

    • Markus L. Björck
    •  & Peter Brzezinski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Biologically ### produced electrical currents and hydrogen are new energy sources. Here, the authors find that low presser microfluidizer treatment produced cyanobacterium that can utilize electrons from respiratory and photosynthesis to promote current and hydrogen generation, without the addition of exogenous electron mediators.

    • Gadiel Saper
    • , Dan Kallmann
    •  & Noam Adir

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Some prokaryotes use alternative respiratory chain complexes, such as the alternative complex III (ACIII), to generate energy. Here authors provide the cryoEM structure of ACIII from Rhodothermus marinus which shows the arrangement of cofactors and provides insights into the mechanism for energy transduction.

    • Joana S. Sousa
    • , Filipa Calisto
    •  & Manuela M. Pereira

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Water splitting during photosynthesis results in the combination of two oxygen atoms to form O2. Here, based on computational simulations, the authors develop a possible mechanism for this reaction, which is different from the mechanisms previous studies have suggested.

    • Keisuke Kawashima
    • , Tomohiro Takaoka
    •  & Hiroshi Ishikita

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sunlight harvesting and redirection is a promising concept for sustainable energy conversion, however losses have hindered progress. Here the authors construct a simple biomimetic device which minimises losses by using reservoirs of randomly-oriented dyes to funnel energy onto individual emitting parallel acceptors.

    • Alexander Pieper
    • , Manuel Hohgardt
    •  & Peter Jomo Walla

  • Article
    | Open Access

    H+-ATPases employ a rotary catalytic mechanism to couple ATP synthesis/hydrolysis with proton translocation through the membrane. Here, the authors use high-resolution cryoEM to characterize three rotational states of a bacterial H+-ATPase, providing a more detailed model of its catalytic mechanism.

    • Atsuko Nakanishi
    • , Jun-ichi Kishikawa
    •  & Ken Yokoyama

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Carotenoids can dissipate excess energy captured by photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes to prevent photodamage. Here, via spectroscopic and in silico approaches, Liguori et al. resolve different carotenoid dark states and propose conformational changes that permit them to act as either energy donors or quenchers.

    • Nicoletta Liguori
    • , Pengqi Xu
    •  & Roberta Croce

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Devices that harness electron flow from photosynthetic organisms generally compromise host photosynthesis. Here, the authors show that, by redesigning the QAsite of Photosystem II, it is possible to reroute electrons to an exogenous quinone while maintaining endogenous photosynthetic electron transfer in a green alga.

    • Han-Yi Fu
    • , Daniel Picot
    •  & Francis-André Wollman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photosynthesis uses only a limited range of solar radiation. Here, Graysonet al. genetically incorporated the yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) chromophore into a bacterial photosystem, and show that energy harvested by reaction centre–YFP complexes can augment photosynthesis in vivo.

    • Katie J. Grayson
    • , Kaitlyn M. Faries
    •  & C. Neil Hunter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Assembling multiple biological components into synthetic lipid vesicles is a limiting step in the manufacture of biomimetic cell-like structures. Here the authors use fusogenic proteoliposomes of opposite charge for fast assembly of a minimal electron transport chain consisting of F1F0 ATP-synthase and the proton pump bo3-oxidase.

    • Robert R. Ishmukhametov
    • , Aidan N. Russell
    •  & Richard M. Berry

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The availability of crystal structures of photosystem II opens up the possibility of gaining insights into its mechanism. Here, the authors use a computational approach and propose a deprotonation event at O4 followed by long-range proton-transfer along a chain of strongly bonded water molecules.

    • Keisuke Saito
    • , A. William Rutherford
    •  & Hiroshi Ishikita

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Receptor tyrosine kinases are key mediators of cell proliferation that have been implicated in several disease states for which they represent promising drug targets. Here the authors determine the thermodynamic basis for the low propensity of FGFR1 to access the DFG-Phe-out conformation required to bind type-II inhibitors.

    • Tobias Klein
    • , Navratna Vajpai
    •  & Alexander L. Breeze

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although most protein folding experiments can be explained by a single pathway, theoretical evidence suggests the presence of multiple pathways. Here, the authors resolve this using a combination of force, chemical denaturation and mutagenesis to modulate the flux between parallel pathways.

    • Emily J. Guinn
    • , Bharat Jagannathan
    •  & Susan Marqusee

  • Article |

    Rotary ATPases exhibit similar architecture and mechanism but distinct physiological functions, operating either as ion pumps or ATP synthases. Here the authors report the structure and mechanism of the c-ring from the A. woodiiATP synthase, and suggest an evolutionary path between synthases and pumps through adaptations in this molecular rotor.

    • Doreen Matthies
    • , Wenchang Zhou
    •  & Thomas Meier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    ABC systems are an important class of transporters involved in human pathologies for which the basis for transport remains poorly understood. Here the authors suggest a molecular basis for ATP-powered vectorial peptide export by the human transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP).

    • Nina Grossmann
    • , Ahmet S. Vakkasoglu
    •  & Robert Tampé

  • Article |

    Some biological reactions can require thermodynamically unfavourable electron transfer processes, the occurrence of which are not yet fully understood. Here, the authors provide the structural basis of energy transduction during the reductive activation of B12-dependent methyltransferases.

    • Sandra E. Hennig
    • , Sebastian Goetzl
    •  & Holger Dobbek

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II converts water into oxygen during photosynthesis, but how this process occurs is not yet fully understood. Here, the authors use modified complexes with reduced reaction rates to study the process of oxygen evolution in more detail.

    • Håkan Nilsson
    • , Fabrice Rappaport
    •  & Johannes Messinger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cofactor-mediated energy and electron transfer in photosystem II occurs preferentially through one branch of the reaction centre, despite there being a symmetric path available. Here, the authors use computational methods to determine the influence of protein conformation on this selectivity.

    • Lu Zhang
    • , Daniel-Adriano Silva
    •  & Xuhui Huang

  • Article |

    Incomplete oxidation of fuels is a common problem in enzymatic fuel cells and it leads to low energy densities. Zhu et al. report the complete oxidation of sugar in an enzymatic fuel cell through a synthetic enzymatic pathway, which exhibits higher energy densities than lithium-ion batteries.

    • Zhiguang Zhu
    • , Tsz Kin Tam
    •  & Y. -H. Percival Zhang

  • Article |

    The mitochondrial calcium uniporter supports oxidative phosphorylation in mammals; however, it is also present in blood-stage trypanosomes, which lack a functional respiratory chain. Huang et al. show that the mitochondrial calcium uniporter is essential for blood-stage survival and metabolism in Trypanosoma brucei.

    • Guozhong Huang
    • , Anibal E. Vercesi
    •  & Roberto Docampo

  • Article |

    Microbial fuels cells present a way of generating electricity using the natural metabolism of microorganisms. Here the authors carry out single-cell current measurements ofGeobacter sulfurreducensDL-1 to determine the upper limits of microbial fuel cell performance.

    • Xiaocheng Jiang
    • , Jinsong Hu
    •  & Justin C. Biffinger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The switch from linear to cyclic electron flow has long been thought to rely on the migration of antenna proteins from Photosystem II to Photosystem I. Takahashi et al. report that this is not the case and that cyclic electron flow is tuned by the intrachloroplastic redox power.

    • Hiroko Takahashi
    • , Sophie Clowez
    •  & Fabrice Rappaport

  • Article |

    Ribosomal protein synthesis is driven by the hydrolysis of GTP. Wallin and colleagues employ molecular dynamics and computer simulations to show that a universally conserved histidine promotes GTP hydrolysis in its protonated form, and is driven into the active conformation by interactions with the ribosome.

    • Göran Wallin
    • , Shina C. L. Kamerlin
    •  & Johan Åqvist

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Q-cycle is thought to be an essential energetic component of the photosynthetic electron-transfer chain. Here, Chlamydomonas mutants with an inactive Q-cycle but normal levels ofb6fcomplexes are shown to display photosynthetic growth, demonstrating the dispensability of the Q-cycle in the oxygenic photosynthetic chain.

    • Alizée Malnoë
    • , Francis-André Wollman
    •  & Fabrice Rappaport

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