Light-driven proton-pumping rhodopsins are widely distributed in many microorganisms. They convert sunlight energy into proton gradients that serve as energy source of the cell. Here we report a new functional class of a microbial rhodopsin, a light-driven sodium ion pump. We discover that the marine flavobacterium Krokinobacter eikastus possesses two rhodopsins, the first, KR1, being a prototypical proton pump, while the second, KR2, pumps sodium ions outward. Rhodopsin KR2 can also pump lithium ions, but converts to a proton pump when presented with potassium chloride or salts of larger cations. These data indicate that KR2 is a compatible sodium ion-proton pump, and spectroscopic analysis showed it binds sodium ions in its extracellular domain. These findings suggest that light-driven sodium pumps may be as important in situ as their proton-pumping counterparts.
Krokinobacter eikastus rhodopsin 2 (KR2) is the first light-driven Na(+) pump discovered, and is viewed as a potential next-generation optogenetics tool. Since the positively charged Schiff base proton, located within the ion-conducting pathway of all light-driven ion pumps, was thought to prohibit the transport of a non-proton cation, the discovery of KR2 raised the question of how it achieves Na(+) transport. Here we present crystal structures of KR2 under neutral and acidic conditions, which represent the resting and M-like intermediate states, respectively. Structural and spectroscopic analyses revealed the gating mechanism, whereby the flipping of Asp116 sequesters the Schiff base proton from the conducting pathway to facilitate Na(+) transport. Together with the structure-based engineering of the first light-driven K(+) pumps, electrophysiological assays in mammalian neurons and behavioural assays in a nematode, our studies reveal the molecular basis for light-driven non-proton cation pumps and thus provide a framework that may advance the development of next-generation optogenetics.
Background: Light-driven proton pumps are utilized to control the neural activity. Results: We have succeeded to produce a blue-shifted proton pump. The rotation of the -ionone ring contributes to the spectral shift. Conclusion: The designed color variant provides a tool that allows the control of neural activity by blue light. Significance: The knowledge will help to understand the color-tuning mechanism and can be utilized for optogenetics.
Krokinobacter eikastus rhodopsin 2 (KR2) is a light-driven sodium ion pump that was discovered in marine bacteria. Although KR2 is able to pump lithium ions similarly, it is converted into a proton pump in potassium chloride or salts of larger cations. In this paper, we applied light-induced difference Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to KR2, a compatible sodium ion-proton pump, at 77 K. The first structural study of the functional cycle showed that the structure and structural changes in the primary processes of KR2 are common to all microbial rhodopsins. The red shifted K formation (KR2K) was accompanied by retinal photoisomerization from an all-trans to a 13-cis form, resulting in a distorted retinal chromophore. The observed hydrogen out-of-plane vibrations were H/D exchangeable, indicating that the chromophore distortion by retinal isomerization is located near the Schiff base region in KR2. This tendency was also the case for bacteriorhodopsin and halorhodopsin but not the case for sensory rhodopsin I and II. Therefore, ion pumps such as proton, chloride, and sodium pumps exhibit local structural perturbations of retinal at the Schiff base moiety, while photosensors show more extended structural perturbations of retinal. The retinal Schiff base of KR2 forms a hydrogen bond that is stronger than in BR. KR2 possesses more protein-bound water molecules than other microbial rhodopsins and contains strongly hydrogen-bonded water (O-D stretch at 2333 cm(-1) in D2O). The light-induced difference FTIR spectra at 77 K were identical between the two states functioning as light-driven sodium ion and proton pumps, indicating that the structural changes in the primary processes are identical between different ion pump functions in KR2. In other words, it is unknown which ions are transported by molecules when they absorb photons and photoisomerize. It is likely that the relaxation processes from the K state lead to an alternative function, namely a sodium ion pump or proton pump, depending on the environment.
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