The Photosystem II reaction center is vulnerable to photoinhibition. The D1 and D2 proteins, lying at the core of the photosystem, are susceptible to oxidative modification by reactive oxygen species that are formed by the photosystem during illumination. Using spin probes and EPR spectroscopy, we have determined that both O 2 . The identification of specific amino acid residues oxidized by reactive oxygen species provides insights into the mechanism of damage to the D1 and D2 proteins under light stress.photosynthesis | Photosystem II | reactive oxygen species | photo inhibition | mass spectrometry P hotosystem II (PSII) functions as a water-plastoquinone oxidoreductase (1, 2) and is a thylakoid membrane pigmentprotein complex present in all oxygenic photosynthetic organisms (cyanobacteria, algae, and higher plants). Current high-resolution structures of thermophilic cyanobacterial PSII (3, 4), and lower resolution structures of the red algal (5) and higher plant photosystems (6), have been critically important in furthering our understanding of the molecular organization of PSII. Structurally, the PSII reaction center core is composed of five proteins: D1, D2, the α-and β-subunits of cytochrome b 559 , and PsbI. These components bind all of the redox-active cofactors of PSII.Excitation energy transfer and electron transport within PSII are unavoidably associated with production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) when the absorption of light by the chlorophyll antenna exceeds the capacity for energy utilization. Many mechanisms for ROS production have been proposed (for reviews, see refs. 7 and 8). Briefly, singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) may be formed by excitation energy transfer from triplet chlorophylls (formed either by the change in orientation of the spin of an excited electron in the PSII antenna complex, or via charge recombination of the primary radical pair 3 [P 680 •+ Pheo •− ]) to O 2 (9, 10). ROS production by electron transport involves either the two-electron oxidation of water or the one-electron reduction of O 2 on the PSII electron donor and acceptor sides, respectively. On the PSII electron donor side, a twoelectron oxidation of water leads to the formation of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), which may be oxidized to the superoxide anion radical (O 2•−