Thylakoid membrane landscape in the sixties: a tribute to Andrew Benson |
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Authors: | Jan M Anderson |
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Institution: | (1) Photobioenergetics, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, GPO Box 475, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia |
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Abstract: | Prior to the 1960s, the model for the molecular structure of cell membranes consisted of a lipid bilayer held in place by
a thin film of electrostatically-associated protein stretched over the bilayer surface: (the Danielli–Davson–Robertson “unit
membrane” model). Andrew Benson, an expert in the lipids of chloroplast thylakoid membranes, questioned the relevance of the
unit membrane model for biological membranes, especially for thylakoid membranes, instead of emphasizing evidence in favour
of hydrophobic interactions of membrane lipids within complementary hydrophobic regions of membrane-spanning proteins. With
Elliot Weier, Benson postulated a remarkable subunit lipoprotein monolayer model for thylakoids. Following the advent of freeze
fracture microscopy and the fluid lipid-protein mosaic model by Singer and Nicolson, the subunits, membrane-spanning integral
proteins, span a dynamic lipid bilayer. Now that high resolution X-ray structures of photosystems I and II are being revealed,
the seminal contribution of Andrew Benson can be appreciated. |
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Keywords: | Andy Benson Daniel Branton Chlorophyll Lipids Molecular organization Thylakoid membrane structure Jonathon Singer Elliot Weier |
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