Refined crystal structures of reaction centres from Rhodopseudomonas viridis in complexes with the herbicide atrazine and two chiral atrazine derivatives also lead to a new model of the bound carotenoid

The structure and thermal motion of the B800-850 LH2 complex from Rps.acidophila at 2.0A resolution and 100K: new structural features and functionally relevant motions

The structure at 100K of integral membrane light-harvesting complex II (LH2) from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila strain 10050 has been refined to 2.0A resolution. The electron density has been significantly improved, compared to the 2.5A resolution map, by high resolution data, cryo-cooling and translation, libration, screw (TLS) refinement. The electron density reveals a second carotenoid molecule, the last five C-terminal residues of the alpha-chain and a carboxy modified alpha-Met1 which forms the ligand of the B800 bacteriochlorophyll. TLS refinement has enabled the characterisation of displacements between molecules in the complex. B850 bacteriochlorophyll molecules are arranged in a ring of 18 pigments composed of nine approximate dimers. These pigments are strongly coupled and at their equilibrium positions the excited state dipole interaction energies, within and between dimers, are approximately 370cm(-1) and 280cm(-1), respectively. This difference in coupling energy is similar in magnitude to changes in interaction energies arising from the pigment displacements described by TLS tensors. The displacements appear to be non-random in nature and appear to be designed to optimise the modulation of pigment energy interactions. This is the first time that LH2 pigment displacements have been quantified experimentally. The calculated energy changes indicate that there may be significant contributions to inter-pigment energy interactions from molecular displacements and these may be of importance to photosynthetic energy transfer.

Novel psbA1 gene from a naturally occurring atrazine-resistant cyanobacterial isolate

A naturally occurring atrazine-resistant cyanobacterial isolate, strain SG2, was isolated from an atrazine-containing wastewater treatment system at the Syngenta atrazine production facility in St. Gabriel, La. Strain SG2 was resistant to 1,000 microg of atrazine per ml but showed relatively low resistance to diuron [3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethyl urea]. Analyses of 16S ribosomal DNA indicated that strain SG2 falls into the Synechocystis/Pleurocapsa/Microcystis group. Photosynthetically driven oxygen evolution in strain SG2 was only slightly inhibited (about 10%) by 2,000 microg of atrazine per ml, whereas in the control strain Synechocystis 6803, oxygen evolution was inhibited 90% by 1,000 microg of atrazine per ml. No atrazine accretion, mineralization, or metabolites were detected when strain SG2 was grown with [(14)C]atrazine. Strain SG2 contained three copies of the psbA gene, which encodes the D(1) protein of the photosystem II reaction center. Nucleotide sequence analyses indicated that the psbA2 and psbA3 genes encoded predicted proteins with the same amino acid sequence. However, the psbA1 gene product contained five extra amino acids, which were not found in PsbA proteins from five other cyanobacteria. Moreover, the PsbA1 protein from strain SG2 had an additional 13 amino acid changes compared to the PsbA2/PsbA3 proteins and contained 10 amino acid alterations compared to conserved residues found in other cyanobacteria. Reverse transcriptase PCR analysis indicated that the psbA1 gene and the psbA2/psbA3 gene(s) were expressed in photosynthetically grown cells in the presence of atrazine. These results suggest that strong selection pressure conferred by the continual input of atrazine has contributed to the evolution of a herbicide-resistant, yet photosynthetically efficient, psbA gene in a cyanobacterium.

Overexpression of mammalian integral membrane proteins for structural studies

Recent successes in the determination of atomic resolution structures of integral membrane proteins have relied on purifying the proteins from abundant natural sources. In contrast, the majority of mammalian receptors, ion channels and transporters need to be overexpressed to obtain sufficient material for structural studies. This has often proved to be very difficult. Overexpression studies on a wide range of mammalian membrane proteins have shown that a few can be expressed functionally in bacteria, but many others require an insect or mammalian cell host for activity or high level expression. The serotonin transporter, which has been expressed in all the major hosts available, is a good example that has given insights into the problem of overexpressing mammalian membrane proteins for structural studies.

A new approach to determining the geometry of weakly coupled radical pairs from their electron spin polarization patterns

Analytical expressions for the spin polarized EPR lineshapes of weakly coupled radical pairs (RPs) are derived as functions of the angles between the anisotropic g-tensors of the radicals and the vector describing the dipolar coupling. It is shown that with a singlet precursor the EPR signal of the RP can be written as a linear function of the dipolar coupling. Under these conditions, the calculated powder spectrum can be expressed as a linear combination of four powder spectra, which are independent of the geometry of the RP. To reproduce the experimental spectra the optimal set of coefficients can be found by least-squares fitting. The advantage of this approach is that the four powder spectra must only be calculated once. This treatment shows very clearly the restrictions placed on the information obtainable from such spectra. Most importantly, a unique set of angles can only be obtained if the absolute amplitude of the spectrum is known. In general, the calculated spectrum is related to the experimental spectrum by an unknown, arbitrary scaling factor. In this case, sets of angles consistent with the data are obtained. Possible strategies for obtaining unique geometric information are discussed and demonstrated with the experimental data for the state P+*(865)Q-*(A) in Zn-substituted bacterial reaction centres.

Carotenoid photooxidation in photosystem II

Carotenoids are known to function as light-harvesting pigments and they play important roles in photoprotection in both plant and bacterial photosynthesis. These functions are also important for carotenoids in photosystem II. In addition, beta-carotene recently has been found to function as a redox intermediate in an alternate pathway of electron transfer within photosystem II. This redox role of a carotenoid in photosystem II is unique among photosynthetic reaction centers and stems from the very highly oxidizing intermediates that form in the process of water oxidation. In this minireview, an overview of the electron-transfer reactions in photosystem II is presented, with an emphasis on those involving carotenoids. The carotenoid composition of photosystem II and the physical methods used to study the structure of the redox-active carotenoid are reviewed. Possible roles of carotenoid cations in photoprotection of photosystem II are discussed.

Reaction centres of purple bacteria

The bacterial reaction centre is undoubtedly one of the most heavily studied electron transfer proteins and, as this article has tried to describe, it has made some unique contributions to our understanding of biological electron transfer and coupled protonation reactions, and has provided fascinating information in areas that concern basic properties such as protein heterogeneity and protein dynamics. Despite intensive study, much remains to be learned about how this protein catalyses the conversion of solar energy into a form that can be used by the cell. In particular, the dynamic roles played by the protein are still poorly understood. The wide range of time-scales over which the reaction centre catalyses electron transfer, and the relative ease with which electron transfer can be triggered and monitored, will ensure that the reaction centre will continue to be used as a laboratory for testing ideas about the nature of biological electron transfer for many years to come.

Is there a conserved interaction between cardiolipin and the type II bacterial reaction center?

In a recent publication, the structural details of an interaction between the Rhodobacter sphaeroides reaction center and the anionic phospholipid diphosphatidyl glycerol (cardiolipin) were described (K. E. McAuley, P. K. Fyfe, J. P. Ridge, N. W. Isaacs, R. J. Cogdell, and M. R. Jones, 1999, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 96:14706-14711). This was the first crystallographic description of an interaction between this biologically important lipid and an integral membrane protein and was also the first piece of evidence that the reaction center has a specific interaction with cardiolipin. We have examined the extent to which the residues that interact with the cardiolipin are conserved in other species of photosynthetic bacteria with this type of reaction center and discuss the possibility that this cardiolipin binding site is a conserved feature of these reaction centers. We look at how sequence variations that would affect the shape of the cardiolipin binding site might affect the protein-cardiolipin interaction, by modeling the binding of cardiolipin to the reaction center from Rhodopseudomonas viridis.

Helical membrane protein folding, stability, and evolution

Helical membrane protein folding and oligomerization can be usefully conceptualized as involving two energetically distinct stages-the formation and subsequent side-to-side association of independently stable transbilayer helices. The interactions of helices with the bilayer, with prosthetic groups, and with each other are examined in the context of recent evidence. We conclude that the two-stage concept remains useful as an approach to simplifying discussions of stability, as a framework for folding concepts, and as a basis for understanding membrane protein evolution.

Structural basis of the drastically increased initial electron transfer rate in the reaction center from a Rhodopseudomonas viridis mutant described at 2.00-A resolution

It has previously been shown that replacement of the residue His L168 with Phe (HL168F) in the Rhodopseudomonas viridis reaction center (RC) leads to an unprecedented drastic acceleration of the initial electron transfer rate. Here we describe the determination of the x-ray crystal structure at 2.00-A resolution of the HL168F RC. The electron density maps confirm that a hydrogen bond from the protein to the special pair is removed by this mutation. Compared with the wild-type RC, the acceptor of this hydrogen bond, the ring I acetyl group of the "special pair" bacteriochlorophyll, D(L), is rotated, and its acetyl oxygen is found 1.1 A closer to the bacteriochlorophyll-Mg(2+) of the other special pair bacteriochlorophyll, D(M). The rotation of this acetyl group and the increased interaction between the D(L) ring I acetyl oxygen and the D(M)-Mg(2+) provide the structural basis for the previously observed 80-mV decrease in the D(+)/D redox potential and the drastically increased rate of initial electron transfer to the accessory bacteriochlorophyll, B(A). The high quality of the electron density maps also allowed a reliable discussion of the mode of binding of the triazine herbicide terbutryn at the binding site of the secondary quinone, Q(B).

Re-emerging structures: continuing crystallography of the bacterial reaction centre

The reaction centre is nature's solar battery, and is found in a number of variations on a common theme in plants, algae and photosynthetic bacteria. During the last 20 years, a combination of X-ray crystallography, spectroscopy and mutagenesis has provided increasingly detailed insights into the mechanism of light energy transduction in the bacterial reaction centre. This mini-review looks at the application of X-ray crystallography to the bacterial reaction centre, focussing in particular on recent information on the structural consequences of site-directed mutagenesis, the roles played by water molecules in the reaction centre, the mechanism of ubiquinone reduction, and studies of the phospholipid environment of the protein.

Internal packing of helical membrane proteins

Helix packing is important in the folding, stability, and association of membrane proteins. Packing analysis of the helical portions of 7 integral membrane proteins and 37 soluble proteins show that the helices in membrane proteins have higher packing values (0.431) than in soluble proteins (0.405). The highest packing values in integral membrane proteins originate from small hydrophobic (G and A) and small hydroxyl-containing (S and T) amino acids, whereas in soluble proteins large hydrophobic and aromatic residues have the highest packing values. The highest packing values for membrane proteins are found in the transmembrane helix-helix interfaces. Glycine and alanine have the highest occurrence among the buried amino acids in membrane proteins, whereas leucine and alanine are the most common buried residue in soluble proteins. These observations are consistent with a shorter axial separation between helices in membrane proteins. The tight helix packing revealed in this analysis contributes to membrane protein stability and likely compensates for the lack of the hydrophobic effect as a driving force for helix-helix association in membranes.