Hydration of the oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II probed in the dark-stable S1 state using proton NMR dispersion profiles

The hydration of the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) was characterized in the dark stable S1 state of photosystem II using water R1(ω) NMR dispersion (NMRD) profiles. The R1(ω) NMRD profiles were recorded over a frequency range from 0.01 MHz to 40 MHz for both intact and Mn-depleted photosystem II core complexes from Thermosynechococcus vulcanus (T. vulcanus). The intact-minus-(Mn)-depleted difference NMRD profiles show a characteristic dispersion from approximately 0.03 MHz to 1 MHz, which is interpreted on the basis of the Solomon–Bloembergen–Morgan (SBM) and the slow motion theories as being due to a paramagnetic enhanced relaxation (PRE) of water protons. Both theories are qualitatively consistent with the ST = 1, g = 4.9 paramagnetic state previously described for the S1 state of the OEC; however, an alternative explanation involving the loss of a separate class of long-lived internal waters due to the Mn-depletion procedure can presently not be ruled out. Using a point-dipole approximation the PRE-NMRD effect can be described as being caused by 1–2 water molecules that are located about 10 Å away from the spin center of the Mn4CaO5 cluster in the OEC. The application of the SBM theory to the dispersion observed for PSII in the S1 state is questionable, because the parameters extracted do not fulfil the presupposed perturbation criterion. In contrast, the slow motion theory gives a consistent picture indicating that the water molecules are in fast chemical exchange with the bulk (τw < 1 μs). The modulation of the zero-field splitting (ZFS) interaction suggests a (restricted) reorientation/structural equilibrium of the Mn4CaO5 cluster with a characteristic time constant of τZFS = 0.6–0.9 μs.