The rubA gene was insertionally inactivated in Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002, and the properties of photosystem I complexes were characterized spectroscopically. X-band EPR spectroscopy at low temperature shows that the three terminal iron-sulfur clusters, F X , F A , and F B , are missing in whole cells, thylakoids, and photosystem (PS) I complexes of the rubA mutant. The flashinduced decay kinetics of both P700 ؉ in the visible and A 1 ؊ in the near-UV show that charge recombination occurs between P700؉ and A 1 ؊ in both thylakoids and PS I complexes. The spin-polarized EPR signal at room temperature from PS I complexes also indicates that forward electron transfer does not occur beyond A 1 . In agreement, the spin-polarized X-band EPR spectrum of P700 ؉ A 1 ؊ at low temperature shows that an electron cycle between A 1 ؊ and P700 ؉ occurs in a much larger fraction of PS I complexes than in the wild-type, wherein a relatively large fraction of the electrons promoted are irreversibly transferred to [F A /F B ]. The electron spin polarization pattern shows that the orientation of phylloquinone in the PS I complexes is identical to that of the wild type, and out-of-phase, spin-echo modulation spectroscopy shows the same P700 ؉ to A 1 ؊ center-to-center distance in photosystem I complexes of wild type and the rubA mutant. In contrast to the loss of F X , F B , and F A , the Rieske iron-sulfur protein and the non-heme iron in photosystem II are intact. It is proposed that rubredoxin is specifically required for the assembly of the F X iron-sulfur cluster but that F X is not required for the biosynthesis of trimeric P700-A 1 cores. Since the PsaC protein requires the presence of F X for binding, the absence of F A and F B may be an indirect result of the absence of F X .