• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.302-304
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• 2002

pharaonis phoborhodopsin (ppR), a photophobic sensor of haloalkaliphilic bacteria, Natronobacterium phar-aonis, has retinal as a chromophore covalently bound to Lys in G-helix via a protonated Schiff base (PSB), as is the same as bacteriorhodopsin (bR). For ppR, the corresponding counter-ion is Asp residue (Asp75) located in C-helix. Here we investigated the influence of the protonated state of this counter-ion and its location on the chromophore configuration. Under alkaline condition, the chromophore configuration of D75E mutant was analyzed by HPLC. D75E had a much larger content of 13-cis isomer: the ratio of 13-cis to all-trans was 6:4 while the wild-type had this ratio of 1 :9. On the other hand, under acidic condition where Glu was associated, D75E had no 13-cis retinal isomer. Mutants whose Asp75 was replaced by neutral amino acids (D75N and D75Q) did not contain 13-cis retinal. Furthermore, retinal isomer compositions and the change in the visible ab- sorption spectra (indicating the dissociation state of Glu75) were measured under varying pH, and these were almost the same dependencies. These results indicate that an important factor determining the 13-cis isomer content is the presence of negative charge of the counter-ion against PSB, but not the size of this residue. Com- parison between the wild-type and D75E in alkaline solutions indicates the influence of the location of the counter-ion.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.264-266
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• 2002

The absorption wavelength of the protonated retinal Schiff base can be controlled by the surrounding environment. An external anion is related to fine adjustment of the absorption wavelength. The addition of anion to retinochrome solution caused blue shift in spectra. The increase of the shift was dependent on the ion concentration. The large shift value was obtained as 20 nm at the saturated concentration of nitrate. The shift intensity for the nitrate addition exceeded that of chloride. Seemingly, it depends on the ionic strength or lyotropic character of the anion. However, neither of sulphate nor gluconate ion showed remarkable blue shift. These phenomena were accounted for with (1) delocalization of the positive charge in the conjugated polyene system, (2) ionic bonding strength between the counter ion (glutamate) and the proton, and/or (3) interaction of the added anion with the proton on Schiff base.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 1995

Picosecond time-resolved and static protein fluorescence spectra and absorption spectra of octopus rhodopsin, a photorecepting protein, are measured and compared with those of bacteriorhodopsin, a photon-induced proton pumping protein, to understand the protein conformations and functions of octopus rhodopsin and its deprotonated photocycle intermediate. The bluer and weaker absorption of retinal indicates that octopus rhodopsin is better in thermal noise suppression but less efficient in light harvesting than bacteriorhodopsin. The protein fluorescence of octopus rhodopsin shows the characteristic of Trp only and the uantum efficiency and lifetime variations may result primarily from variations in the coupling strength with the retinal. The stronger intensity by four times and larger red shift by 12 nm of fluorescence suggest that octopus rhodopsin has more open and looser structure compared with bacteriorhodopsin. Fluorescence decay profiles reveal two decay components of 300 ps (60%) and 2 ns (40%). The deprotonation of protonated Schiff's base increases the shorter decay time to 500 ps and enhances the fluorescence intensity by 20%. The fluorescence and its decay time from Trp residues near retinal are influenced more by the deprotonation. The increase of fluorescence intimates that protein structure becomes loosened and relaxed further by the deprotonation of protonated Schiff's base. The driving force of sequential changes initiated by absorption of a photon is too exhausted after the deprotonation to return the intermediate to the ground state of the begun rhodopsin form.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.33-36
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• 2002

In vertebrate rhodopsins the glutamic acid at position 113 serves as a counterion to stabilize the protonated retinylidene Schiff base linkage and to shift the spectrum to the visible region. Invertebrate rhodopsins and retinochrome have the amino acid residue different from glutamic acid or asparatic acid at this position and therefore, these pigments may have a counterion at different position. We first investigated the counterion in retinochrome by site specific mutagenesis. The results showed that the counterion is the glutamic acid at position 181, where almost of all the pigments including vertebrate and invertebrate rhodopsins in the rhodopsin family have a glutamic acid or an aspartic acid. In vertebrate rhodopsins, however, Glu 181 does not act as a counterion, and the red-sensitive cone pigments have a histidine at this position, which serves as a chloride-binding site for red-shift of the absorption spectrum. These findings suggested that the role of Glu181 as a counterion may be weakened by the newly acquired counterion at position 113. Taken together with our recent studies on an invertebrate-type rhodopsin, the rhodopsin diversity was discussed from viewpoint of counterion.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.534-536
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• 2002

A halophilic archaeon, Halobacterium salinarum, exhibits phototactic behaviors, by which the organism is guided to red-orange light and evades shorter wavelengths of light. The phototaxis is mediated by two retinal proteins, sensory rhodopsin I and II (SRI and SRII), whose structures are analogous to the cognate protein bacteriorhodopsin, a light-driven proton pump. SRI mediates both attractant and repellent swimming behaviors to orange light and near- UV light, respectively. The two different signaling through the single photoreceptor have been ascribed to the presence of two active structures of SRI (S$\_$373/ and P$\_$520), which are produced upon orange light illumination of SRI and upon subsequent near-UV illumination of S$\_$373/, respectively. In the present study, we have measured the difference FTIR spectra of S$\_$373/ and P$\_$520/ states. In P$\_$520/, the isomeric structure of the chromophore is assignable to all-trans, and the Schiff base of the chromophore is protonated with concomitant deprotonation of Asp76, a combination which allows for the formation of a salt bridge between them. It was suggested that the way of interaction between the Schiff base and the counterion, which is different among SRI$\_$587/, S$\_$373/ and P$\_$520/ and which has been shown to drive the conformational changes in the cognate protein, bacteriorhodopsin, is the key to controlling conformational changes for the attractant and the repellent signaling by SRI.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.80-85
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• 2007

We report the electro-optical properties of the sensory rhodopsin II using a near-field scanning microwave microscope(NSMM). Rhodopsin was known as a photoreceptor pigment with a retinal as a chromophore via a protonated Schiff base and consists of seven ${\alpha}-helical$ transmembrane segments. The sensory rhodopsin II, expressing E. coli UT5600 with endogenous retinal biosynthesis system and purified with $Ni^{-2}-NTA$ affinity chromatography in the presence of 0.02 % DM (Dodecyl Maltoside) from Natronomonas pharaonis. We measured the absorption spectra and the transients difference of sensory rhodopsin II from Natronomonas pharaonis using a UV/VIS spectrophotometer with Nd-Yag Laser (532 nm). The absorption spectra of NpSR II showed a typical rhodopsin spectrum with a left shoulder region and the photointermediates spectra of NpSR II-ground state (${\lambda}max=498\;nm$), NpSR II-M state (${\lambda}max=390\;nm$), and NpSR II-O state (${\lambda}max=550\;nm$) during the photocycle. The observed photocycle reaction was confirmed by measuring the microwave reflection coefficient $S_{11}$ at an operating frequency of f=3.93-3.95 GHz and compared with the results of a photocycle of NpSR II.

• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2009

Alanine racemase catalyzes the interconversion of L-alanine and D-alanine and plays a crucial role in spore germination and cell wall biosynthesis. In this study, alanine racemase produced by Bacillus anthracis was expressed and purified as a monomer in Escherichia coli and the importance of lysine 41 in the cofactor binding octapeptide and tyrosine 270 in catalysis was evaluated. The native enzyme exhibited an apparent $K_m$ of 3 mM for L-alanine, and a $V_{max}$ of $295\;{\mu}moles/min/mg$, with the optimum activity occurring at $37^{\circ}C$ and a pH of 8-9. The activity observed in the absence of exogenous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate suggested that the cofactor is bound to the enzyme. Additionally, the UV-visible absorption spectra indicated that the activity was pH independece, of VV-visible absorption spectra suggests that the bound PLP exists as a protonated Schiff's base. Furthermore, the loss of activity observed in the apoenzyme suggested that bound PLP is required for catalysis. Finally, the enzyme followed non-competitive and mixed inhibition kinetics for hydroxylamine and propionate with a $K_i$of $160\;{\mu}M$ and 30 mM, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.133-141
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• 1983

The kinetics of the acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of a series of 1-aryl-2-pyrrylideneaniline (3) have been studied in 20% MeOH solution using UV spectrophotometer. Substituents in 3 showed a relatively small effect, with hydrolysis facilitated by electron withdrawing group. By obtaing linear plots of $log k_{obs}$ against Hammett ${\sigma}$ constants, it was able to show that substituents had a considerable contribution to the aromaticity of pyrrole compounds. The small positive ${\rho}$ values were consistent with the rate-determining addition of water to the protonated schiff base in the buffer solution of pH 4 to 8, whereas the addition of water to the free imine seemed to be the rate-determining in the solution of acidities greater than pH 8.