The paper is devoted to the method of computer simulation of protein interactions taking
part in photosynthetic electron transport reactions. Using this method we have studied
kinetic characteristics of protein-protein complex formation for four pairs of proteins
involved in photosynthesis at a variety of ionic strength values. Computer simulations
describe non-monotonic dependences of complex formation rates on the ionic strength as the
result of long-range electrostatic interactions. Calculations confirm that the decrease in
the association second order rate constant at low values of the ionic strength is caused
by the protein pairs spending more time in “wrong” orientations which do not satisfy the
docking conditions and so do not form the final complex capable of the electron
transfer.