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MDFF

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Bacteria contain the simplest photosynthetic machineries found in nature. Higher organisms like algae and plants practice photosynthesis in a more elaborate but principally similar manner as bacteria. But even for its simplicity, the bacterial photosynthetic unit is not without its unsolved mysteries. Take, for example, the crucial photosynthetic core complex, which performs light absorption and the initial processing of the light energy. In certain bacterial species, the core complex contains two copies of an additional small protein (made of about 80 amino acids) called PufX, whose role in photosynthesis is still a puzzle, and its location within the core complex is yet to be pinpointed. Numerous imaging studies have been published, yielding two opinions on what the role of PufX is and where exactly it resides. One opinion assigns the protein the role of gate keeper, the other the role of coordinator. Recently, a computational investigation was carried out that much supports the second role. Since PufX comes as a pair, two copies of PufX were placed side-by-side in a biological membrane and they were seen to adhere to each other strongly, but assume with their cylindrical (helical) shape an angle of 38 degrees. This geometry is perfectly suited for PufX to join the two parts of the symmetrical core complex together in the middle and to impose on the parts the tilt that was actually observed in the imaging studies. The needed simulations were done with NAMD. More details can be found on our photosynthetic core complex website.