Long Live Electronic Coherence!

Coherent Effects in Charge Transport in Molecular Wires: Toward a Unifying Picture of Long-Range Hole Transfer in DNA

In the framework of a multistep mechanism in which environmental motion triggers comparatively faster elementary electron-transfer steps and stabilizes hole-transfer products, microscopic coherence is crucial for rationalizing the observed yield ratios of oxidative damage to DNA. Interference among probability amplitudes of indistinguishable electron-transfer paths is able to drastically change the final outcome of charge transport, even in DNA oligomers constituted by similar building blocks, and allows for reconciling apparently discordant experimental observations. Properly tailored DNA oligomers appear to be a promising workbench for studying tunneling in the presence of dissipation at the macroscopic level.

Origin of long-lived quantum coherence and excitation dynamics in pigment-protein complexes

We explore the mechanism for the long-lived quantum coherence by considering the discrete phonon modes: these vibrational modes effectively weaken the exciton-environment interaction, due to the new composite (polaron) formed by excitons and vibrons. This subsequently demonstrates the role of vibrational coherence which greatly contributes to long-lived feature of the excitonic coherence that has been observed in femtosecond experiments. The estimation of the timescale of coherence elongated by vibrational modes is given in an analytical manner. To test the validity of our theory, we study the pigment-protein complex in detail by exploring the energy transfer and coherence dynamics. The ground-state vibrational coherence generated by incoherent radiations is shown to be long-survived and is demonstrated to be significant in promoting the excitation energy transfer. This is attributed to the nonequilibriumness of the system caused by the detailed-balance-breaking, which funnels the downhill migration of excitons.

Elucidating the design principles of photosynthetic electron-transfer proteins by site-directed spin labeling EPR spectroscopy

Site-directed spin labeling electron paramagnetic resonance (SDSL EPR) spectroscopy is a powerful tool to determine solvent accessibility, side-chain dynamics, and inter-spin distances at specific sites in biological macromolecules. This information provides important insights into the structure and dynamics of both natural and designed proteins and protein complexes. Here, we discuss the application of SDSL EPR spectroscopy in probing the charge-transfer cofactors in photosynthetic reaction centers (RC) such as photosystem I (PSI) and the bacterial reaction center (bRC). Photosynthetic RCs are large multi-subunit proteins (molecular weight≥300 kDa) that perform light-driven charge transfer reactions in photosynthesis. These reactions are carried out by cofactors that are paramagnetic in one of their oxidation states. This renders the RCs unsuitable for conventional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy investigations. However, the presence of native paramagnetic centers and the ability to covalently attach site-directed spin labels in RCs makes them ideally suited for the application of SDSL EPR spectroscopy. The paramagnetic centers serve as probes of conformational changes, dynamics of subunit assembly, and the relative motion of cofactors and peptide subunits. In this review, we describe novel applications of SDSL EPR spectroscopy for elucidating the effects of local structure and dynamics on the electron-transfer cofactors of photosynthetic RCs. Because SDSL EPR Spectroscopy is uniquely suited to provide dynamic information on protein motion, it is a particularly useful method in the engineering and analysis of designed electron transfer proteins and protein networks. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Biodesign for Bioenergetics--the design and engineering of electronic transfer cofactors, proteins and protein networks, edited by Ronald L. Koder and J.L. Ross Anderson.