The role of characteristic phospholipids of native membranes, phosphatidylcholine (PC),phosphatidylglycerol (PG), and cardiolipin (CL), was studied in the energetics of the acceptor quinoneside in photosynthetic reaction centers of
Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The rates of the first,
kAB(1), and thesecond,
kAB(2), electron transfer and that of the charge recombination,
kBP, the free energy levels of Q
A-Q
Band Q
AQ
B- states, and the changes of charge compensating protein relaxation were determined in RCsincorporated into artificial lipid bilayer membranes. In RCs embedded in the PC vesicle,
kAB(1) and
kAB(2)increased (from 3100 to 4100 s
-1 and from 740 to 3300 s
-1, respectively) and
kBP decreased (from 0.77to 0.39 s
-1) compared to those measured in detergent at pH 7. In PG,
kAB(1) and
kBP decreased (to valuesof 710 and 0.26 s
-1, respectively), while
kAB(2) increased to 1506 s
-1 at pH 7. The free energy betweenthe Q
A-Q
B and Q
AQ
B- states decreased in PC and PG (
G
QA-QB
QAQB- = -76.9 and -88.5 meV,respectively) compared to that measured in detergent (-61.8 meV). The changes of the Q
A/Q
A- redoxpotential measured by delayed luminescence showed (1) a differential effect of lipids whether RCincorporated in micelles or vesicles, (2) an altered binding interaction between anionic lipids and RC, (3)a direct influence of PC and PG on the free energy levels of the primary and secondary quinones probablythrough the intraprotein hydrogen-bonding network, and (4) a larger increase of the Q
A/Q
A- free energyin PG than in PC both in detergent micelles and in single-component vesicles. On the basis of recentstructural data, implications of the binding properties of phospholipids to RC and possible interactionsbetween lipids and electron transfer components will be discussed.