In the photosynthetic reaction center from Rhodobacter sphaeroides, the primary (QA) and secondary (QB) electron acceptors are both ubiquinone-10, but with very different properties and functions. To investigate the protein environment that imparts these functional differences, we have applied X-band HYSCORE, a 2D pulsed EPR technique, to characterize the exchangeable protons around the semiquinone (SQ) in the QA and QB sites, using samples of 15N-labeled reaction centers, with the native high spin Fe2+ exchanged for diamagnetic Zn2+, prepared in 1H2O and 2H2O solvent. The powder HYSCORE method is first validated against the orientation-selected Q-band ENDOR study of the QA SQ by Flores et al. (Biophys. J. 2007, 92, 671–682), with good agreement for two exchangeable protons with anisotropic hyperfine tensor components, T, both in the range 4.6–5.4 MHz. HYSCORE was then applied to the QB SQ where we found proton lines corresponding to T~5.2, 3.7 MHz and T~1.9 MHz. Density functional-based quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations, employing a model of the QB site, were used to assign the observed couplings to specific hydrogen bonding interactions with the QB SQ. These calculations allow us to assign the T=5.2 MHz proton to the His-L190 NδH…O4 (carbonyl) hydrogen bonding interaction. The T =3.7 MHz spectral feature most likely results from hydrogen bonding interactions of O1 (carbonyl) with both Gly-L225 peptide NH and Ser-L223 hydroxyl OH, which possess calculated couplings very close to this value. The smaller 1.9 MHz coupling is assigned to a weakly bound peptide NH proton of Ile-L224. The calculations performed with this structural model of the QB site show less asymmetric distribution of unpaired spin density over the SQ than seen for the QA site, consistent with available experimental data for 13C and 17O carbonyl hyperfine couplings. The implications of these interactions for QB function and comparisons with the QA site are discussed.

Photosynthetic reaction centers from Rhodobacter sphaeroides have identical ubiquinone-10 molecules functioning as primary (QA) and secondary (QB) electron acceptors. X-band 2D pulsed EPR spectroscopy, called HYSCORE, was applied to study the interaction of the QB site semiquinone with nitrogens from the local protein environment in natural and 15N uniformly labeled reactions centers. 14N and 15N HYSCORE spectra of the QB semiquinone show the interaction with two nitrogens carrying transferred unpaired spin density. Quadrupole coupling constants estimated from 14N HYSCORE spectra indicate them to be a protonated nitrogen of an imidazole residue and amide nitrogen of a peptide group. 15N HYSCORE spectra allowed estimation of the isotropic and anisotropic couplings with these nitrogens. From these data, we calculated the unpaired spin density transferred onto 2s and 2p orbitals of nitrogen, and analyzed the contribution of different factors to the anisotropic hyperfine tensors. The hyperfine coupling of other protein nitrogens with the semiquinone is weak (<0.1 MHz). These results clearly indicate that the QB semiquinone forms hydrogen bonds with two nitrogens, and provide quantitative characteristics of the hyperfine couplings with these nitrogens, which can be used in theoretical modeling of the QB site. Based on the quadrupole coupling constant, one nitrogen can only be assigned to Nδ of His-L190, consistent with all existing structures. However, we cannot specify between two candidates the residue corresponding to the second nitrogen. Further work employing multifrequency spectroscopic approaches or selective isotope labeling would be desirable for unambiguous assignment of this nitrogen.