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Satalkar V, Benassi E, Mao Y, Pan X, Ran C, Chen X, Shao Y. Computational Investigation of Substituent Effects on the Fluorescence Wavelengths of Oxyluciferin Analogs. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem 2022; 431:114018. [PMID: 36407037 PMCID: PMC9673899 DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotochem.2022.114018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Oxyluciferin, which is the light emitter for firefly bioluminescence, has been subjected to extensive chemical modifications to tune its emission wavelength and quantum yield. However, the exact mechanisms for various electron-donating and withdrawing groups to perturb the photophysical properties of oxyluciferin analogs are still not fully understood. To elucidate the substituent effects on the fluorescence wavelength of oxyluciferin analogs, we applied the absolutely localized molecular orbitals (ALMO)-based frontier orbital analysis to assess various types of interactions (i.e. permanent electrostatics/exchange repulsion, polarization, occupied-occupied orbital mixing, virtual-virtual orbital mixing, and charge-transfer) between the oxyluciferin and substituent orbitals. We suggested two distinct mechanisms that can lead to red-shifted oxyluciferin emission wavelength, a design objective that can help increase the tissue penetration of bioluminescence emission. Within the first mechanism, an electron-donating group (such as an amino or dimethylamino group) can contribute its highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) to an out-of-phase combination with oxyluciferin's HOMO, thus raising the HOMO energy of the substituted analog and narrowing its HOMO-LUMO gap. Alternatively, an electron-withdrawing group (such as a nitro or cyano group) can participate in an in-phase virtual-virtual orbital mixing of fragment LUMOs, thus lowering the LUMO energy of the substituted analog. Such an ALMO-based frontier orbital analysis is expected to lead to intuitive principles for designing analogs of not only the oxyluciferin molecule, but also many other functional dyes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vardhan Satalkar
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA
| | - Enrico Benassi
- Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
| | - Yuezhi Mao
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Xiaoliang Pan
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA
| | - Chongzhao Ran
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Xiaoyuan Chen
- Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, 117597, Singapore
| | - Yihan Shao
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA
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Liu YJ. Understanding the complete bioluminescence cycle from a multiscale computational perspective: A review. JOURNAL OF PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOBIOLOGY C: PHOTOCHEMISTRY REVIEWS 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotochemrev.2022.100537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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Liu S, Su Y, Lin MZ, Ronald JA. Brightening up Biology: Advances in Luciferase Systems for in Vivo Imaging. ACS Chem Biol 2021; 16:2707-2718. [PMID: 34780699 PMCID: PMC8689642 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.1c00549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
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Bioluminescence imaging
(BLI) using luciferase reporters is an
indispensable method for the noninvasive visualization of cell populations
and biochemical events in living animals. BLI is widely performed
with preclinical rodent models to understand disease processes and
evaluate potential cell- or gene-based therapies. However, in vivo BLI remains constrained by low photon production
and tissue attenuation, limiting the sensitivity of reporting from
small numbers of cells in deep locations and hindering its application
to larger animal models. This Review highlights recent advances in
the development of luciferase systems that improve the sensitivity
of in vivo BLI and discusses the expanding array
of biological applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shirley Liu
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A3K7, Canada
- Department of Medical Biophysics, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A3K7, Canada
| | - Yichi Su
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Michael Z. Lin
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - John A. Ronald
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A3K7, Canada
- Department of Medical Biophysics, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A3K7, Canada
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Carrasco-López C, Lui NM, Schramm S, Naumov P. The elusive relationship between structure and colour emission in beetle luciferases. Nat Rev Chem 2020; 5:4-20. [PMID: 37118106 DOI: 10.1038/s41570-020-00238-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
In beetles, luciferase enzymes catalyse the conversion of chemical energy into light through bioluminescence. The principles of this process have become a fundamental biotechnological tool that revolutionized biological research. Different beetle species can emit different colours of light, despite using the same substrate and highly homologous luciferases. The chemical reasons for these different colours are hotly debated yet remain unresolved. This Review summarizes the structural, biochemical and spectrochemical data on beetle bioluminescence reported over the past three decades. We identify the factors that govern what colour is emitted by wild-type and mutant luciferases. This topic is controversial, but, in general, we note that green emission requires cationic residues in a specific position near the benzothiazole fragment of the emitting molecule, oxyluciferin. The commonly emitted green-yellow light can be readily changed to red by introducing a variety of individual and multiple mutations. However, complete switching of the emitted light from red to green has not been accomplished and the synergistic effects of combined mutations remain unexplored. The minor colour shifts produced by most known mutations could be important in establishing a 'mutational catalogue' to fine-tune emission of beetle luciferases, thereby expanding the scope of their applications.
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Yu M, Liu YJ. Same Luciferin in Different Luciferases Emitting Different-Color Light. A Theoretical Study on Beetle Bioluminescence. J Chem Theory Comput 2020; 16:3904-3909. [PMID: 32396347 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.0c00074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Bioluminescent beetles, firefly, click beetle, and railroad worm, naturally emit different-color light via the identical luciferin and bioluminescence (BL) mechanisms. Railroad worm especially emits two colors of light in its dorsal-lateral and cephalic lanterns. Four computational models of bioluminophore (oLu) in luciferases of red-emitting, yellow-green-emitting, red-emitting with additional loop, and red-emitting without C-terminal were built in this paper. To unveil the details of this luciferase effect at the molecular and electronic-state levels, second-order multiconfigurational perturbation calculations were performed following molecular dynamic simulations and time-dependent density functional calculations for the above four oLu-luciferase systems. Via a systematic analysis on properties of oLu at the first singlet state (S1-oLu) in different luciferases, one clearly see the details of the microenvironment and secondary structure of luciferase affecting the excited-state property of S1-oLu, which ultimately result in the variant color of light emission. Typically, the increase in charge transfer of S1-oLu leads to the longer wavelength BL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohan Yu
- Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Ya-Jun Liu
- Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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Gosset P, Taupier G, Crégut O, Brazard J, Mély Y, Dorkenoo KD, Léonard J, Didier P. Excited-State Proton Transfer in Oxyluciferin and Its Analogues. J Phys Chem Lett 2020; 11:3653-3659. [PMID: 32310668 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c00839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
One of the most characterized bioluminescent reactions involves the firefly luciferase that catalyzes the oxidation of the luciferin producing oxyluciferin in its first excited state. While relaxing to the ground state, oxyluciferin emits visible light with an emission maximum that can vary from green to red. Oxyluciferin exists under six different chemical forms resulting from a keto/enol tautomerization and the deprotonation of the phenol or enol moieties. The optical properties of each chemical form have been recently characterized by the investigations of a variety of oxyluciferin derivatives, indicating unresolved excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) reactions. In this work, femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy are used to investigate the picosecond kinetics of the ESPT reactions and demonstrate the excited state keto to enol conversion of oxyluciferin and its derivatives in aqueous buffer as a function of pH. A comprehensive photophysical scheme is provided describing the complex luminescence pathways of oxyluciferin in protic solution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pauline Gosset
- Institut de Physique et de Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UMR 7504, Strasbourg, France
- Laboratoire de Bioimagerie et Pathologies, UMR 7021 CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 67000 Strasbourg, France
| | - Grégory Taupier
- Institut de Physique et de Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UMR 7504, Strasbourg, France
| | - Olivier Crégut
- Institut de Physique et de Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UMR 7504, Strasbourg, France
| | - Johanna Brazard
- Institut de Physique et de Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UMR 7504, Strasbourg, France
| | - Yves Mély
- Laboratoire de Bioimagerie et Pathologies, UMR 7021 CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 67000 Strasbourg, France
| | - Kokou-Dodzi Dorkenoo
- Institut de Physique et de Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UMR 7504, Strasbourg, France
| | - Jérémie Léonard
- Institut de Physique et de Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UMR 7504, Strasbourg, France
| | - Pascal Didier
- Laboratoire de Bioimagerie et Pathologies, UMR 7021 CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 67000 Strasbourg, France
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Zemmouche M, García-Iriepa C, Navizet I. Light emission colour modulation study of oxyluciferin synthetic analogues via QM and QM/MM approaches. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2020; 22:82-91. [DOI: 10.1039/c9cp04687a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Study of emission spectra of three analogues of firefly oxyluciferin in gas phase, in water (PCM) and in protein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madjid Zemmouche
- Université Paris-Est
- Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi Échelle
- MSME UMR 8208 CNRS
- UPEM
- 77454 Marne-la-Vallée
| | - Cristina García-Iriepa
- Université Paris-Est
- Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi Échelle
- MSME UMR 8208 CNRS
- UPEM
- 77454 Marne-la-Vallée
| | - Isabelle Navizet
- Université Paris-Est
- Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi Échelle
- MSME UMR 8208 CNRS
- UPEM
- 77454 Marne-la-Vallée
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Liu Q, Leng Y, Huang S, Liu C, Yang X, Ren A, Min C. The Fluorescent Properties of pH‐Independent Cypridina Oxyluciferin Derivatives. ChemistrySelect 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/slct.201901761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Qing‐Bo Liu
- School of Materials Science and EngineeringKunming University of Science and Technology Kunming 650093 P. R. China
- Research Center for Analysis and MeasurementKunming University of Science and Technology Kunming 650093 P. R. China
- Analysis and Test Center of Yunnan Province Kunming 650093 P. R. China
| | - Yan Leng
- Faculty of Chemical EngineeringKunming University of Science and Technology Kunming 650093 P. R. China
| | - Shao‐Jun Huang
- Research Center for Analysis and MeasurementKunming University of Science and Technology Kunming 650093 P. R. China
- Analysis and Test Center of Yunnan Province Kunming 650093 P. R. China
| | - Chun‐Xia Liu
- Research Center for Analysis and MeasurementKunming University of Science and Technology Kunming 650093 P. R. China
- Analysis and Test Center of Yunnan Province Kunming 650093 P. R. China
| | - Xi‐Kun Yang
- Research Center for Analysis and MeasurementKunming University of Science and Technology Kunming 650093 P. R. China
- Analysis and Test Center of Yunnan Province Kunming 650093 P. R. China
| | - Ai‐Min Ren
- Institute of Theoretical ChemistryJilin University Changchun 130023 P. R. China
| | - Chun‐Gang Min
- School of Materials Science and EngineeringKunming University of Science and Technology Kunming 650093 P. R. China
- Research Center for Analysis and MeasurementKunming University of Science and Technology Kunming 650093 P. R. China
- Analysis and Test Center of Yunnan Province Kunming 650093 P. R. China
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