Prof. Nathan Nelson

Our lab concentrates on the study of membrane-proteins. We study the molecular mechanisms involved in transport and energy transduction. The five main subjects that we are currently engaged in are:

- Structure, function and molecular biology of photosystem I (PSI) and other membrane complexes in higher plant chloroplasts. We solve the structure of plant PSI super-complex including its four light-harvesting complexes at 2.6 Å resolution. We intend to obtain atomic resolution of plant PSI.

- Structure, function and molecular biology of cyanobacterial photosystem I. We solve the structure of a trimeric PSI from synechocystis at 2.5 Å resolution.

- Cryo-EM structure of photosynthetic membrane complexes. We solved the structure of over 20 photosynthetic membrane complexes at near atomic resolution.  

- Structure, function and mechanism of photosystem II. We solved the structure of PSII from various green algae and suggested a novels mechanism for plastoquinone photoreduction.

- Harnessing Oxygenic Photosynthesis for Sustainable Energy Production.

 

Fadeeva M, Klaiman D, Kandiah E, Nelson N. (2024). Structure of native photosystem II assembly intermediate from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Front. Plant Sci. 14:1334608. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1334608
 

Fadeeva M, Klaiman D, Caspy I, Nelson N. (2023). Structure of Chlorella ohadii Photosystem II Reveals Protective Mechanisms against Environmental Stress. Cells. 12, 1971. doi.org/10.3390/cells12151971
 

Caspy I, Fadeeva M, Mazor Y, Nelson N. (2023). Structure of Dunaliella Photosystem II reveals conformational flexibility of stacked and unstacked supercomplexes. Elife. 2023 Feb 17;12:e81150. doi: 10.7554/eLife.81150. 
 

Caspy I, Schwartz T, Bayro-Kaiser V, Fadeeva M, Kessel A, Ben-Tal N, Nelson N. (2021). Dimeric and high-resolution structures of Chlamydomonas Photosystem I from a temperature-sensitive Photosystem II mutant. Commun Biol. 4(1):1380. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02911-7.
 

Caspy I, Borovikova-Sheinker A, Klaiman D, Shkolnisky Y, Nelson N. (2020) The structure of a triple complex of plant photosystem I with ferredoxin and plastocyanin. Nature Plants.   DOI: 10.1038/s41477-020-00779-9
 

Caspy I, Malavath T, Klaiman D, Fadeeva M, Shkolnisky Y, Nelson N. (2020) Structure and Energy Transfer Pathways of the Dunaliella Salina Photosystem I Supercomplex. BBA - Bioenergetics, 1861:148253. doi: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2020.148253.
 

Perez-Boerema A, Klaiman D, Caspy I, Netzer-El S, Amunts A, Nelson N. (2020). Structure of a minimal photosystem I from a green alga. Nature Plants 6:321327 https://doi.org/ 10.1038/s41477-020-0611-9
 

Antoshvili M, Caspy I, Hippler M, Nelson N. (2019). Structure and function of Photosystem I in Cyanidioschyzon merolae. Photosynthetic Research. 139(1-3):499-508. doi: 10.1007/s11120-018-0501-4. 
 

Mazor Y, Borovikova A, Caspy I, Nelson N. (2017). Structure of the plant photosystem I supercomplex at 2.6 Å resolution. Nature Plants. 3:17014. doi: 10.1038/nplants.2017.14.

Bayro-Kaiser V. and Nelson N. (2017). Microalgal hydrogen production: prospects of an essential technology for a clean and sustainable energy economy. Photosynth Res. doi: 10.1007/s11120-017-0350-6.

Bayro-Kaiser V. and Nelson N. (2016). Temperature-sensitive PSII: A novel approach for sustained photosynthetic hydrogen production Photosynth Res. DOI 10.1007/s11120-016-0232-3

Mazor, Y., Borovikova, A. and Nelson N. (2015). The structure of plant photosystem I super-complex at 2.8 °A resolution.  eLife 2015;4:e07433. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.07433.

Nelson, N. and Junge, W. (2015). Structure and Energy Transfer in Photosystems of Oxygenic Photosynthesis. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 84, 659-683.

Mazor, Y., Nataf, D., Toporik H. and Nelson N. (2014). Crystal structures of virus-like photosystem I complexes from the mesophilic cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803. eLife 2014;3:e01496. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.01496.

Nelson, N. (2013). Evolution of photosystem I and the control of global enthalpy in an oxidizing world. Photosynth Res. 116, 145-151.

Saroussi, S., Schushan, M., Ben-Tal, N., Junge, W. and Nelson, N. (2012). Structure and flexibility of the c-ring in the electromotor of rotary FoF1-ATPase of pea chloroplasts. PLoS ONE 7(9): e43045. doi:10.1371

Toporik, H., Carmeli, I., Volotsenko, I., Molotskii, M., Rosenwaks, Y., Carmeli C. and Nelson, N. (2012). Large Photovoltage Generated by Plant Photosystem I Crystals. Advanced Materials. 24, 2988-2991.

Mazor, Y., Toporik, H. and Nelson, N. (2012). Temperature-sensitive PSII and promiscuous PSI as a possible solution for sustainable photosynthetic hydrogen production. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1817, 1122-1126.

Nelson, N. (2011). Photosystems and global effects of oxygenic photosynthesis. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1807, 856-863.

Amunts, A., Toporik, H., Borovikova, A. and Nelson, N. (2010). Structure determination and improved model of plant photosystem I. J Biol Chem. 285, 3478-3486.

Sharon, I., Alperovitch, A., Rohwer, F., Haynes, M. Glaser, F. Atamaa-Ismaeel, N., Pinter, R.Y., Partensky, F., Koonin, E.V., Wolf, Y.I., Nelson, N. and Oded Béjà, O. (2009). Photosystem I gene cassettes are present in marine virus genomes. Nature 461, 258-262.