The angles between the C(1)-, C(5)-, and C(9)-methyl bonds of the retinylidene chromophore and the membrane normal increase in the M intermediate of bacteriorhodopsin: direct determination with solid-state (2)H NMR.

The orientations of three methyl bonds of the retinylidene chromophore of bacteriorhodopsin were investigated in the M photointermediate using deuterium solid-state NMR ((2)H NMR). In this key intermediate, the chromophore has a 13-cis, 15-anti conformation and a deprotonated Schiff base. Purple membranes containing wild-type or mutant D96A bacteriorhodopsin were regenerated with retinals specifically deuterated in the methyl groups of either carbon C(1) or C(5) of the beta-ionone ring or carbon C(9) of the polyene chain. Oriented hydrated films were formed by drying concentrated suspensions on glass plates at 86% relative humidity. The lifetime of the M state was increased in the wild-type samples by applying a guanidine hydrochloride solution at pH 9.5 and in the D96A sample by raising the pH. (2)H NMR experiments were performed on the dark-adapted ground state (a 2:1 mixture of 13-cis, 15-syn and all-trans, 15-anti chromophores), the cryotrapped light-adapted state (all-trans, 15-anti), and the cryotrapped M intermediate (13-cis, 15-anti) at -50 degrees C. Bacteriorhodopsin was first completely converted to M under steady illumination of the hydrated films at +5 degrees C and then rapidly cooled to -50 degrees C in the dark. From a tilt series of the oriented sample in the magnetic field and an analysis of the (2)H NMR line shapes, the angles between the individual C-CD(3) bonds and the membrane normal could be determined even in the presence of a substantial degree of orientational disorder. While only minor differences were detected between dark- and light-adapted states, all three angles increase in the M state. This is consistent with an upward movement of the C(5)-C(13) part of the polyene chain toward the cytoplasmic surface or with increased torsional strain. The C(9)-CD(3) bond shows the largest orientational change of 7 degrees in M. This reorientation of the chromophore in the binding pocket provides direct structural support for previous suggestions (based on spectroscopic evidence) for a steric interaction in M between the C(9)-methyl group and Trp 182 in helix F.

Structural constraints from residual tensorial couplings in high resolution NMR without an explicit term for the alignment tensor.

Structural restraints from residual tensorial couplings in high resolution NMR are usually incorporated into molecular structure calculation programs by an energy penalty function which depends on the knowledge of the alignment tensor. Here, we show that the alignment tensor enters in linear form into such a function. Therefore, the explicit appearance of the alignment tensor can be eliminated from the penalty function. This avoids the necessity of a determination of magnitude and rhombicity of the alignment tensor in the absence of structural information. The price for this procedure is a slightly shallower energy landscape. Simulations in the vicinity of the energy minimum for the backbone of human ubiquitin show that the reduction in curvature is on the order of a few percent.

Chromophore orientation in bacteriorhodopsin determined from the angular dependence of deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of oriented purple membranes.

The orientation of prosthetic groups in membrane proteins is of considerable importance in understanding their functional role in energy conversion, signal transduction, and ion transport. In this work, the orientation of the retinylidene chromophore of bacteriorhodopsin (bR) was investigated using 2H NMR spectroscopy. Bacteriorhodopsin was regenerated with all-trans-retinal stereospecifically deuterated in one of the geminal methyl groups on C1 of the cyclohexene ring. A highly oriented sample, which is needed to obtain individual bond orientations from 2H NMR, was prepared by forming hydrated lamellar films of purple membranes on glass slides. A Monte Carlo method was developed to accurately simulate the 2H NMR line shape due to the distribution of bond angles and the orientational disorder of the membranes. The number of free parameters in the line shape simulation was reduced by independent measurements of the intrinsic line width (1.6 kHz from T2e experiments) and the effective quadrupolar coupling constant (38. 8-39.8 kHz from analysis of the line shape of a powder-type sample). The angle between the C1-(1R)-1-CD3 bond and the purple membrane normal was determined with high accuracy from the simultaneous analysis of a series of 2H NMR spectra recorded at different inclinations of the uniaxially oriented sample in the magnetic field at 20 and -50 degrees C. The value of 68.7 +/- 2.0 degrees in dark-adapted bR was used, together with the previously determined angle of the C5-CD3 bond, to calculate the possible orientations of the cyclohexene ring in the membrane. The solutions obtained from 2H NMR were then combined with additional constraints from linear dichroism and electron cryomicroscopy to obtain the allowed orientations of retinal in the noncentrosymmetric membrane structure. The combined data indicate that the methyl groups on the polyene chain point toward the cytoplasmic side of the membrane and the N-H bond of the Schiff base to the extracellular side, i.e., toward the side of proton release in the pump pathway.

Intramolecular charge transfer in the bacteriorhodopsin mutants Asp85-->Asn and Asp212-->Asn: effects of pH and anions.

The photovoltage kinetics of the bacteriorhodopsin mutants Asp212-->Asn and Asp85-->Asn after excitation at 580 nm have been investigated in the pH range from 0 to 11. With the mutant Asp85-->Asn (D85N) at pH 7 no net charge translocation is observed and the signal is the same, both in the presence of Cl- (150 mM) and in its absence (75 mM SO4(2-)). Under both conditions the color of the pigment is blue (lambda max = 615 nm). The time course of the photovoltage kinetics is similar to that of the acid-blue form of wild-type, except that an additional transient charge motion occurs with time constants of 60 microseconds and 1.3 ms, indicating the transient deprotonation and reprotonation of an unknown group to and from the extracellular side of the membrane. It is suggested that this is the group XH, which is responsible for proton release in wild-type. At pH 1, the photovoltage signal of D85N changes upon the addition of Cl- from that characteristic for the acid-blue state of wild-type to that characteristic for the acid-purple state. Therefore, the protonation of the group at position at 85 is necessary, but not sufficient for the chloride-binding. At pH 11, well above the pKa of the Schiff base, there is a mixture of "M-like" and "N-like" states. Net proton transport in the same direction as in wild-type is restored in D85N from this N-like state. With the mutant Asp212-->Asn (D212N), time-resolved photovoltage measurements show that in the absence of halide ions the signal is similar to that of the acid-blue form of wild-type and that no net charge translocation occurs in the entire pH range from 0 to 11. Upon addition of Cl- in the pH range from 3.8 to 7.2 the color of the pigment returns to purple and the photovoltage experiments indicate that net proton pumping is restored. However, this Cl(-)-induced activation of net charge-transport in D212N is only partial. Outside this pH range, no net charge transport is observed even in the presence of chloride, and the photovoltage shows the same chloride-dependent features as those accompanying the acid-blue to acid-purple transition of the wild-type.

Photovoltage kinetics of the acid-blue and acid-purple forms of bacteriorhodopsin: evidence for no net charge transfer.

Time-resolved photovoltage measurements were performed with the acid-blue (bR605A) and acid-purple (bR565A) forms of bacteriorhodopsin (bR) in the time range from 25 ns to 100 s. The bR605A and bR565A pigments were formed by titration with H2SO4 in the absence and presence of 150 mM KCI, respectively. Qualitatively the kinetics of the charge displacement in these two states are similar and consist of two fast phases in one direction (100 ns bandwidth limited and approximately 1 microsecond) followed by a decay in the opposite direction via one component for bR605A (4.4 +/- 0.6 ms) or two components for bR565A (33 +/- 8 microseconds and 3.6 +/- 0.5 ms). The transient photovoltage signal returns exactly to the initial value after several milliseconds, well before the passive discharge of the electrical measuring system at 2 s. We conclude that no net charge transfer occurs in either bR605A or bR565A. The direction of the fast components is opposite that of net proton translocation in bR at pH 7. So, if the charge that moves back and forth is due to a proton, it moves first in the direction of the cytoplasmic side of the membrane (< 1 microsecond) and returns to its initial position via the 4.4 ms (bR605A) or the 33 microseconds and 3.6 ms (bR565A) decay components. The amplitude of the charge motion in both low pH forms is too large to be due to isomerization alone and is comparable to one of the major components in bR at pH 7.2