The atmospheric dioxygen (O2) is produced at a tetramanganese complex bound to the proteins of photosystem II (PSII). To investigate product inhibition at elevated oxygen partial pressure (pO 2 ranging from 0.2 to 16 bar), we monitored specifically the redox reactions of the Mn complex in its catalytic S-state cycle by rapid-scan and time-resolved X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) at the Mn K-edge. By using a pressure cell for X-ray measurements after laser-flash excitation of PSII particles, we found a clear pO 2 influence on the redox reactions of the Mn complex, with a similar half-effect pressure as determined (2-3 bar). However, XANES spectra and the time courses of the X-ray fluorescence collected with microsecond resolution suggested that the O 2 evolution transition itself (S3fS0؉O2) was not affected. Additional (nonstandard) oxidation of the Mn complex at high pO 2 explains our experimental findings more readily. Our results suggest that photosynthesis at ambient conditions is not limited by product inhibition of the O 2 formation step. manganese complex ͉ photosystem II ͉ X-ray spectroscopy ͉ bioinorganic chemistry ͉ oxygen pressure I n oxygenic photosynthesis, plants, algae, and cyanobacteria facilitate the primary biomass formation by exploiting solar energy for driving the conversion of water (H 2 O) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into carbohydrates (C n H 2n O n ). Dioxygen (O 2 ) is formed as product of the water oxidation chemistry of the photosystem II (PSII) protein complex (1-5). Photosynthetic CO 2 fixation and O 2 formation have shaped the Earth's atmosphere (6) by (i) lowering the CO 2 level to Ͻ0.04% and (ii) creation of a maximal O 2 concentration of 35% (7), Ϸ300 million years before the present and a current level of Ϸ20%.In photosynthetic organisms, the low level of atmospheric CO 2 can limit photosynthesis, related to the activity of CO 2 -fixing ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (8, 9). It is less clear whether water oxidation by PSII is directly affected by the concentration of O 2 , the immediate product of light-driven water splitting. This question was only recently addressed experimentally by Clausen and Junge (10). They exposed PSII from cyanobacteria to oxygen partial pressures (pO 2 ) ranging from 0.2 to 30 bar and, analyzing flash-induced near-UV absorption changes, discovered a pO 2 effect with a half-saturation pressure of only Ϸ2 bar (10). Subsequently, in measurements of delayed Chl fluorescence, together with Clausen and Junge we confirmed that also the donor side of the plant PSII in its native membrane environment is affected by elevated pO 2 (11). The surprisingly low halfpressure of only 2-3 bar was taken as an indication that the efficiency of the O 2 formation step could be reduced significantly by product inhibition. Such a limitation of the water oxidation chemistry may have imposed restraints on the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis (10). Notably, the pO 2 inside of photosynthetic cells in microbial mats and bioreactors can be severalfold higher th...