Structural basis of the green-blue color switching in proteorhodopsin as determined by NMR spectroscopy.

Proteorhodopsins (PRs) found in marine microbes are the most abundant retinal-based photoreceptors on this planet. PR variants show high levels of environmental adaptation, as their colors are tuned to the optimal wavelength of available light. The two major green and blue subfamilies can be interconverted through a L/Q point mutation at position 105. Here we reveal the structural basis behind this intriguing color-tuning effect. High-field solid-state NMR spectroscopy was used to visualize structural changes within green PR directly within the lipid bilayer upon introduction of the green-blue L105Q mutation. The observed effects are localized within the binding pocket and close to retinal carbons C14 and C15. Subsequently, magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy with sensitivity enhancement by dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) was applied to determine precisely the retinal structure around C14-C15. Upon mutation, a significantly stretched C14-C15 bond, deshielding of C15, and a slight alteration of the retinal chain's out-of-plane twist was observed. The L105Q blue switch therefore acts locally on the retinal itself and induces a conjugation defect between the isomerization region and the imine linkage. Consequently, the S0-S1 energy gap increases, resulting in the observed blue shift. The distortion of the chromophore structure also offers an explanation for the elongated primary reaction detected by pump-probe spectroscopy, while chemical shift perturbations within the protein can be linked to the elongation of late-photocycle intermediates studied by flash photolysis. Besides resolving a long-standing problem, this study also demonstrates that the combination of data obtained from high-field and DNP-enhanced MAS NMR spectroscopy together with time-resolved optical spectroscopy enables powerful synergies for in-depth functional studies of membrane proteins.

Detecting substrates bound to the secondary multidrug efflux pump EmrE by DNP-enhanced solid-state NMR.

Escherichia coli EmrE, a homodimeric multidrug antiporter, has been suggested to offer a convenient paradigm for secondary transporters due to its small size. It contains four transmembrane helices and forms a functional dimer. We have probed the specific binding of substrates TPP(+) and MTP(+) to EmrE reconstituted into 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine liposomes by (31)P MAS NMR. Our NMR data show that both substrates occupy the same binding pocket but also indicate some degree of heterogeneity of the bound ligand population, reflecting the promiscuous nature of ligand binding by multidrug efflux pumps. Direct interaction between (13)C-labeled TPP(+) and key residues within the EmrE dimer has been probed by through-space (13)C-(13)C correlation spectroscopy. This was made possible by the use of solid-state NMR enhanced by dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) through which a 19-fold signal enhancement was achieved. Our data provide clear evidence for the long assumed direct interaction between substrates such as TPP(+) and the essential residue E14 in transmembrane helix 1. Our work also demonstrates the power of DNP-enhanced solid-state NMR at low temperatures for the study for secondary transporters, which are highly challenging for conventional NMR detection.