Electron transfer reactions in bacterial photosynthesis: Charge recombination kinetics as a structure probe.

The primary process in photosynthesis is the conversion of light into electrochemical energy. This process occurs in a protein- pigment complex called the reaction center. In this review, we show how measurements of the electron transfer steps can be used to probe the spatial and electronic structure of reaction centers from photosynthetic bacteria. We consider both 'static' structural changes, produced by chemical modification of the protein or by external fields, and 'dynamic' changes, produced by trapping the protein in a non-equilibrium state.