Evidence for Long Range Allosteric Interactions between the Extracellular and Cytoplasmic Parts of Bacteriorhodopsin from the Mutant R82A and Its Second Site Revertant R82A/G231C

Abstract

Evidence is presented for long range interactions between the extracellular and cytoplasmic parts of the heptahelical membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin in the mutant R82A and its second site revertant R82A/ G231C. (i) In the double mutants R82A/G72C and R82A/ A160C, with the cysteine mutation on the extracellular or cytoplasmic surface, respectively, the photocycle is the same as in the single mutant R82A with an accelerated deprotonation of the Schiff base and a reversed order of proton release and uptake. Proton release and uptake kinetics were measured directly at either surface by using the unique cysteine residue as attachment site for the pH indicator fluorescein. Whereas in wild type proton uptake on the cytoplasmic surface occurs during the M-decay ( ϳ 8 ms), in R82A it occurs already during the first phase of the M-rise ( < 1 s). (ii) The introduction of a second mutation at the cytoplasmic surface in position 231 (helix G) restores wild type ground state absorption properties, kinetics of photocycle and of proton release, and uptake in the mutant R82A/G231C. In addition, kinetic H/D isotope effects provide evidence that the proton release mechanism in R82A/G231C and in wild type is similar. These results suggest the existence of long range interactions between the cytoplasmic and extracellular surface domains of bacteriorhodopsin mediated by salt bridges and hydrogen-bonded networks between helices C (Arg-82) and G (Asp-212 and Gly-231). Such long range interactions are expected to be of functional significance for activation and signal transduction in heptahelical Gprotein-coupled receptors.Allosteric interactions are well known and of great importance for water soluble enzymes, where ligand or substrate binding to a specific site alters the conformation and changes the affinity at a different site of the protein (for reviews see Refs. 1 and 2). For membrane-bound G-protein-coupled receptors analogous effects are expected to be of considerable functional significance. For this class of proteins ligand binding occurs mostly on the extracellular surface resulting in the active form of the receptor with binding and activation of the G-protein at the opposite cytoplasmic surface of the protein.The membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin (bR) 1 shares the heptahelical bundle motif with G-protein-coupled receptors. In this report, we present evidence for long range interactions between the extracellular and cytoplasmic parts of bR based on evidence from the mutant R82A and its second site revertant R82A/G231C.Bacteriorhodopsin acts as a light-driven proton pump in the plasma membrane of the archaebacterium Halobacterium salinarium. A retinylidene chromophore is bound via a protonated Schiff base linkage to Lys-216. Upon flash excitation bR undergoes a cyclic photoreaction with distinct spectroscopic intermediates and proton translocation from one side of the membrane to the other (for reviews see Refs. 3-5). In the first half of this photocycle, the Schiff base becomes deprotonated during the transition to the ...

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