Proteorhodopsin (PR), found in marine gamma-proteobacteria, is a newly discovered light-driven proton pump similar to bacteriorhodopsin (BR). Because of the widespread distribution of proteobacteria in the worldwide oceanic waters, this pigment may contribute significantly to the global solar energy input in the biosphere. We examined structural changes that occur during the primary photoreaction (PR --> K) of wild-type pigment and two mutants using low-temperature FTIR difference spectroscopy. Several vibrations detected in the 3500-3700 cm(-1) region are assigned on the basis of H(2)O --> H(2)(18)O exchange to the perturbation of one or more internal water molecules. Substitution of the negatively charged Schiff base counterion, Asp97, with the neutral asparagine caused a downshift of the ethylenic (C=C) and Schiff base (C=N) stretching modes, in agreement with the 27 nm red shift of the visible lambda(max). However, this replacement did not alter the normal all-trans to 13-cis isomerization of the chromophore or the environment of the detected water molecule(s). In contrast, substitution of Asn230, which is in a position to interact with the Schiff base, with Ala induces a 5 nm red shift of the visible lambda(max) and alters the PR chromophore structure, its isomerization to K, and the environment of the detected internal water molecules. The combination of FTIR and site-directed mutagenesis establishes that both Asp97 and Asn230 are perturbed during the primary phototransition. The environment of Asn230 is further altered during the thermal decay of K. These results suggest that significant differences exist in the conformational changes which occur in the photoactive sites of proteorhodopsin and bacteriorhodopsin during the primary photoreaction.
A variety of unicellular microorganisms contain primary proton pumps that convert solar energy into a transmembrane electrochemical proton gradient, which is subsequently used by membrane ATP synthases to generate chemical energy. Well known examples of such pumps are the haloarchaeal rhodopsins, photoactive, seven-helix membrane proteins, which include the well studied proton pump bacteriorhodopsin (BR) 4 from Halobacterium salinarum and BR homologs in other haloarchaea. Recently, a much larger new family of light-driven proton pumps, the proteorhodopsins (PRs), was identified in marine proteobacteria throughout the oceans (1-3). Despite the diverse properties of PRs, including different visible absorption maxima and photocycle rates (4 -6), they all share with BR several key conserved residues as well as an all-trans-retinylidene chromophore in their unphotolyzed state, which is covalently bound to transmembrane helix G via a protonated Schiff base linkage.Many of the molecular events that occur in PRs following light activation are similar to those of BR, including an initial ultrafast all-trans313-cis-retinal isomerization, which triggers a sequence of protein conformational changes, including several intramolecular proton transfer reactions. The two key carboxylate groups involved in proton pumping in helix C of BR are conserved in PRs, and in the first found and most commonly studied PR, the Monterey Bay variant eBAC31A08, also known as green-absorbing proteorhodopsin (GPR), the helix C residues Asp-97 and Glu-108 undergo protonation changes during the photocycle similar to those of the homologous carboxylate residues in BR. Initial FTIR studies on GPR identified the role of Asp-97 as the Schiff base counterion and proton acceptor during Schiff base deprotonation and concomitant M formation and Glu-108 as the proton donor that reprotonates the Schiff base during N formation (7,8). Studies of other variants indicate these roles of the two carboxylic acid residues are general in the proteorhodopsin family. 5One major difference between BR and the PRs is the presence of a highly conserved histidine residue at position 75, near the middle of transmembrane helix B in the latter pigments. The His-75 homolog is not present in BR nor thus far found in other microbial rhodopsins (9). The proximity of His-75 to the pro-* This work was supported, in whole or in part, by National Institutes of Health Grants R01GM069969 (to K. J. R.) and R37GM27750 (to J. L. S.). This work was also supported by United States Department of Energy Grant DE-FG02-07ER15867 and The Robert A. Welch Foundation grant (to J. L. S.). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Sensory rhodopsins (SRs) are light receptors that belong to the growing family of microbial rhodopsins. SRs have now been found in all three major domains of life including archaea, bacteria, and eukaryotes. One of the most extensively studied sensory rhodopsins is SRII, which controls a blue light avoidance motility response in the halophilic archaeon Natronobacterium pharaonis. This seven-helix integral membrane protein forms a tight intermolecular complex with its cognate transducer protein, HtrII. In this work, the structural changes occurring in a fusion complex consisting of SRII and the two transmembrane helices (TM1 and TM2) of HtrII were investigated by time-resolved Fourier transform infrared difference spectroscopy. Although most of the structural changes observed in SRII are conserved in the fusion complex, several distinct changes are found. A reduction in the intensity of a prominent amide I band observed for SRII indicates that its structural changes are altered in the fusion complex, possibly because of the close interaction of TM2 with the F helix, which interferes with the F helix outward tilt. Deprotonation of at least one Asp/Glu residue is detected in the transducer-free receptor with a pK a near 7 that is abolished or altered in the fusion complex. Changes are also detected in spectral regions characteristic of Asn and Tyr vibrations. At high hydration levels, transducer-fusion interactions lead to a stabilization of an M-like intermediate that most likely corresponds to an active signaling form of the transducer. These findings are discussed in the context of a recently elucidated x-ray structure of the fusion complex. Sensory rhodopsin (SR)1 II is a seven-helix integral membrane protein found in halophilic archaea that functions as a light receptor for negative phototaxis (1). Together with sensory rhodopsin I (SRI), which is a dual photoattractant/photorepellent receptor (2); bacteriorhodopsin (BR), a light-driven proton pump; and halorhodopsin, a light-driven chloride pump, these proteins belong to a widespread family of photoactive retinylidene proteins or microbial rhodopsins (3). Microbial rhodopsins have several common features including an alltrans-retinylidene chromophore covalently attached to the protein via a protonated Schiff base linkage. Light absorption results in an all-trans 3 13-cis-isomerization of the chromophore that triggers subsequent conformational changes associated with a photocycle characteristic of each protein. Members of the microbial rhodopsin family have recently been found in diverse organisms including marine proteobacteria (4), cyanobacteria (5), and lower eukaryotes such as Neurospora crassa (6) and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (7).Sensory rhodopsin II transmits the photorepellent signal to the cell cytoplasm by activating the transmembrane domain of its cognate transducer HtrII (8), 2 which is tightly bound to the receptor helices F and G (9). The photocycle of SRII comprises several photointermediates (10 -13), including the blue-shifted M and red-shifte...
The photoactivation mechanism of the sensory rhodopsin II (SRII)-HtrII receptor-transducer complex of Natronomonas pharaonis was investigated by time-resolved Fourier transform infrared difference spectroscopy to identify structural changes associated with early events in the signal relay mechanism from the receptor to the transducer. Several prominent bands in the wild-type SRII-HtrII spectra are affected by amino acid substitutions at the receptor Sensory rhodopsin II (SRII)1 functions as a phototaxis receptor for blue light avoidance in several halophilic archaea (1-4). This protein belongs to a growing family of microbial rhodopsins, seven-helix retinylidene membrane proteins now found in all domains of life (5-8). The SRII receptor forms a tight intermolecular complex with its cognate transducer protein HtrII in the cell membrane. The transducer, like its homologous methyl-accepting chemotaxis transducers, possesses two transmembrane helices and a large cytoplasmic domain that binds at its distal end a His-kinase that phosphorylates a flagellar motor switch regulator (1, 9).Interactions of HtrII with the SRII receptor are localized to the transducer transmembrane and membrane-proximal domains (10, 11). A crystal structure of SRII bound to an Nterminal HtrII fragment containing the transmembrane helices (TM1 and TM2) shows tight van der Waals interaction and three hydrogen bonds between TM2 and SRII helices F and G (12). An atomic structure of the membrane-proximal domain of the transducer is not available; however, fluorescent probe accessibility and Förster resonance energy transfer measurements show interaction of this domain with the cytoplasmic E-F loop of the receptor (13).The signal relay mechanism from SRII to HtrII in the complex has become a focus of interest in the past several years, in part because of its importance to the general understanding of interaction between integral membrane proteins. In accord with the unified model for transport and signaling by microbial rhodopsins (14, 15), the key event in the transducer activation is an outward tilt of the receptor helix F during the lifetime of its M intermediate, which has been directly detected by EPR of paramagnetic probes in the free receptor (16) and in its complex with transducer (17). In a response to the helix F movements, the TM2 of HtrII is displaced from its initial position (17). Additional structural changes were observed in the cytoplasmic membrane proximal region by fluorescent probe accessibility measurements (13).Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) difference spectroscopy has been used extensively in the past to elucidate structural changes in the photocycles of several microbial rhodopsins (18 -27). This technique measures changes in the infrared absorption of protein groups and enables studies of light-induced conformational changes without the necessity of introducing potentially structure-perturbing probes. Because of its sensitivity to small changes in hydrogen bonding, it is especially well suited for the study of interacti...
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