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Wang P, Demaray J, Moroz S, Stuchebrukhov AA. Searching for proton transfer channels in respiratory complex I. Biophys J 2024:S0006-3495(24)00518-6. [PMID: 39095988 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2024.07.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2024] [Revised: 06/19/2024] [Accepted: 07/30/2024] [Indexed: 08/04/2024] Open
Abstract
We have explored a strategy to identify potential proton transfer channels using computational analysis of a protein structure based on Voronoi partitioning and applied it for the analysis of proton transfer pathways in redox-driven proton-pumping respiratory complex I. The analysis results in a network of connected voids/channels, which represent the dual structure of the protein; we then hydrated the identified channels using our water placement program Dowser++. Many theoretical water molecules found in the channels perfectly match the observed experimental water molecules in the structure; some other predicted water molecules have not been resolved in the experiments. The channels are of varying cross sections. Some channels are big enough to accommodate water molecules that are suitable to conduct protons; others are too narrow to hold water but require only minor conformational changes to accommodate proton transfer. We provide a preliminary analysis of the proton conductivity of the network channels, classifying the proton transfer channels as open, closed, and partially open, and discuss possible conformational changes that can modulate, i.e., open and close, the channels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Panyue Wang
- Department of Chemistry, University of California at Davis, Davis, California
| | - Jackson Demaray
- Department of Chemistry, University of California at Davis, Davis, California
| | - Stanislav Moroz
- Department of Chemistry, University of California at Davis, Davis, California
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2
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Demchenko AP. Proton transfer reactions: from photochemistry to biochemistry and bioenergetics. BBA ADVANCES 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbadva.2023.100085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/12/2023] Open
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3
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Gorriz RF, Imhof P. Interplay of Hydration and Protonation Dynamics in the K-Channel of Cytochrome c Oxidase. Biomolecules 2022; 12:biom12111615. [PMID: 36358964 PMCID: PMC9687966 DOI: 10.3390/biom12111615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2022] [Revised: 10/22/2022] [Accepted: 10/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Cytochrome c oxidase is a membrane protein of the respiratory chain that consumes protons and molecular oxygen to produce water and uses the resulting energy to pump protons across the membrane. Our molecular dynamics simulations with an excess proton located at different positions in one of the proton-conducting channels, the K-channel, show a clear dependence of the number of water molecules inside the channel on the proton position. A higher hydration level facilitates the formation of hydrogen-bonded chains along which proton transfer can occur. However, a sufficiently high hydration level for such proton transport is observed only when the excess proton is located above S365, i.e., the lower third of the channel. From the channel entrance up to this point, proton transport is via water molecules as proton carriers. These hydronium ions move with their surrounding water molecules, up to K362, filling and widening the channel. The conformation of K362 depends on its own protonation state and on the hydration level, suggesting its role to be proton transport from a hydronium ion at the height of K362 to the upper part of the channel via a conformational change. The protonation-dependent conformational dynamics of E101 at the bottom of the channel renders proton transfer via E101 unlikely. Instead, its role is rather that of an amplifier of H96’s proton affinity, suggesting H96 as the initial proton acceptor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rene F. Gorriz
- Department of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, 14195 Berlin, Germany
- Computer Chemistry Center, Friedrich-Alexander Universität (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nägelsbachstrasse 25, 91052 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Petra Imhof
- Department of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, 14195 Berlin, Germany
- Computer Chemistry Center, Friedrich-Alexander Universität (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nägelsbachstrasse 25, 91052 Erlangen, Germany
- Correspondence:
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4
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Wei RJ, Zhang Y, Mao J, Kaur D, Khaniya U, Gunner MR. Comparison of proton transfer paths to the Q A and Q B sites of the Rb. sphaeroides photosynthetic reaction centers. PHOTOSYNTHESIS RESEARCH 2022; 152:153-165. [PMID: 35344134 DOI: 10.1007/s11120-022-00906-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The photosynthetic bacterial reaction centers from purple non-sulfur bacteria use light energy to drive the transfer of electrons from cytochrome c to ubiquinone. Ubiquinone bound in the QA site cycles between quinone, QA, and anionic semiquinone, QA·-, being reduced once and never binding protons. In the QB site, ubiquinone is reduced twice by QA·-, binds two protons and is released into the membrane as the quinol, QH2. The network of hydrogen bonds formed in a molecular dynamics trajectory was drawn to investigate proton transfer pathways from the cytoplasm to each quinone binding site. QA is isolated with no path for protons to enter from the surface. In contrast, there is a complex and tangled network requiring residues and waters that can bring protons to QB. There are three entries from clusters of surface residues centered around HisH126, GluH224, and HisH68. The network is in good agreement with earlier studies, Mutation of key nodes in the network, such as SerL223, were previously shown to slow proton delivery. Mutational studies had also shown that double mutations of residues such as AspM17 and AspL210 along multiple paths in the network presented here slow the reaction, while single mutations do not. Likewise, mutation of both HisH126 and HisH128, which are at the entry to two paths reduce the rate of proton uptake.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rongmei Judy Wei
- Ph.D. Program in Chemistry, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, 10016, USA
- Department of Physics, City College of New York, New York, NY, 10031, USA
| | - Yingying Zhang
- Department of Physics, City College of New York, New York, NY, 10031, USA
- Ph.D. Program in Physics, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NY, 10016, USA
| | - Junjun Mao
- Department of Physics, City College of New York, New York, NY, 10031, USA
| | - Divya Kaur
- Department of Chemistry, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Avenue, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada
| | - Umesh Khaniya
- Department of Physics, City College of New York, New York, NY, 10031, USA
- Ph.D. Program in Physics, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NY, 10016, USA
| | - M R Gunner
- Ph.D. Program in Chemistry, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
- Department of Physics, City College of New York, New York, NY, 10031, USA.
- Ph.D. Program in Physics, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
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5
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Kaur D, Khaniya U, Zhang Y, Gunner MR. Protein Motifs for Proton Transfers That Build the Transmembrane Proton Gradient. Front Chem 2021; 9:660954. [PMID: 34211960 PMCID: PMC8239185 DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2021.660954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2021] [Accepted: 05/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Biological membranes are barriers to polar molecules, so membrane embedded proteins control the transfers between cellular compartments. Protein controlled transport moves substrates and activates cellular signaling cascades. In addition, the electrochemical gradient across mitochondrial, bacterial and chloroplast membranes, is a key source of stored cellular energy. This is generated by electron, proton and ion transfers through proteins. The gradient is used to fuel ATP synthesis and to drive active transport. Here the mechanisms by which protons move into the buried active sites of Photosystem II (PSII), bacterial RCs (bRCs) and through the proton pumps, Bacteriorhodopsin (bR), Complex I and Cytochrome c oxidase (CcO), are reviewed. These proteins all use water filled proton transfer paths. The proton pumps, that move protons uphill from low to high concentration compartments, also utilize Proton Loading Sites (PLS), that transiently load and unload protons and gates, which block backflow of protons. PLS and gates should be synchronized so PLS proton affinity is high when the gate opens to the side with few protons and low when the path is open to the high concentration side. Proton transfer paths in the proteins we describe have different design features. Linear paths are seen with a unique entry and exit and a relatively straight path between them. Alternatively, paths can be complex with a tangle of possible routes. Likewise, PLS can be a single residue that changes protonation state or a cluster of residues with multiple charge and tautomer states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Divya Kaur
- Department of Chemistry, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, United States.,Department of Physics, City College of New York, New York, NY, United States
| | - Umesh Khaniya
- Department of Physics, City College of New York, New York, NY, United States.,Department of Physics, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, United States
| | - Yingying Zhang
- Department of Physics, City College of New York, New York, NY, United States.,Department of Physics, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, United States
| | - M R Gunner
- Department of Chemistry, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, United States.,Department of Physics, City College of New York, New York, NY, United States.,Department of Physics, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, United States
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6
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Nikolaev DM, Shtyrov AA, Mereshchenko AS, Panov MS, Tveryanovich YS, Ryazantsev MN. An assessment of water placement algorithms in quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics modeling: the case of rhodopsins' first spectral absorption band maxima. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2020; 22:18114-18123. [PMID: 32761024 DOI: 10.1039/d0cp02638g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) models are a widely used tool to obtain detailed insight into the properties and functioning of proteins. The outcome of QM/MM studies heavily depends on the quality of the applied QM/MM model. Prediction and right placement of internal water molecules in protein cavities is one of the critical parts of any QM/MM model construction. Herein, we performed a systematic study of four protein hydration algorithms. We tested these algorithms for their ability to predict X-ray-resolved water molecules for a set of membrane photosensitive rhodopsin proteins, as well as the influence of the applied water placement algorithms on the QM/MM calculated absorption maxima (λmax) of these proteins. We used 49 rhodopsins and their intermediates with available X-ray structures as the test set. We found that a proper choice of hydration algorithms and setups is needed to predict functionally important water molecules in the chromophore-binding cavity of rhodopsins, such as the water cluster in the N-H region of bacteriorhodopsin or two water molecules in the binding pocket of bovine visual rhodopsin. The QM/MM calculated λmax of rhodopsins is also quite sensitive to the applied protein hydration protocols. The best methodology allows obtaining an 18.0 nm average value for the absolute deviation of the calculated λmax from the experimental λmax. Although the major effect of water molecules on λmax originates from the water molecules located in the binding pocket, the water molecules outside the binding pocket also affect the calculated λmax mainly by causing a reorganization of the protein structure. The results reported in this study can be used for the evaluation and further development of hydration methodologies, in general, and rhodopsin QM/MM models, in particular.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitrii M Nikolaev
- Nanotechnology Research and Education Centre RAS, Saint Petersburg Academic University, 8/3 Khlopina Street, St. Petersburg 194021, Russia.
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Reinhardt CR, Li P, Kang G, Stubbe J, Drennan CL, Hammes-Schiffer S. Conformational Motions and Water Networks at the α/β Interface in E. coli Ribonucleotide Reductase. J Am Chem Soc 2020; 142:13768-13778. [PMID: 32631052 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c04325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) catalyze the conversion of all four ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides and are essential for DNA synthesis in all organisms. The active form of E. coli Ia RNR is composed of two homodimers that form the active α2β2 complex. Catalysis is initiated by long-range radical translocation over a ∼32 Å proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) pathway involving Y356β and Y731α at the interface. Resolving the PCET pathway at the α/β interface has been a long-standing challenge due to the lack of structural data. Herein, molecular dynamics simulations based on a recently solved cryogenic-electron microscopy structure of an active α2β2 complex are performed to examine the structure and fluctuations of interfacial water, as well as the hydrogen-bonding interactions and conformational motions of interfacial residues along the PCET pathway. Our free energy simulations reveal that Y731 is able to sample both a flipped-out conformation, where it points toward the interface to facilitate interfacial PCET with Y356, and a stacked conformation with Y730 to enable collinear PCET with this residue. Y356 and Y731 exhibit hydrogen-bonding interactions with interfacial water molecules and, in some conformations, share a bridging water molecule, suggesting that the primary proton acceptor for PCET from Y356 and from Y731 is interfacial water. The conformational flexibility of Y731 and the hydrogen-bonding interactions of both Y731 and Y356 with interfacial water and hydrogen-bonded water chains appear critical for effective radical translocation along the PCET pathway. These simulations are consistent with biochemical and spectroscopic data and provide previously unattainable atomic-level insights into the fundamental mechanism of RNR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clorice R Reinhardt
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven Connecticut 06520, United States
| | - Pengfei Li
- Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven Connecticut 06520, United States
| | - Gyunghoon Kang
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts 02139, United States.,Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - JoAnne Stubbe
- Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts 02139, United States.,Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Catherine L Drennan
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts 02139, United States.,Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts 02139, United States.,Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts 02139, United States.,Fellow, Bio-inspired Solar Energy Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada
| | - Sharon Hammes-Schiffer
- Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven Connecticut 06520, United States.,Fellow, Bio-inspired Solar Energy Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada
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8
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Palese LL. Oxygen-oxygen distances in protein-bound crystallographic water suggest the presence of protonated clusters. Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj 2020; 1864:129480. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2019.129480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2019] [Revised: 10/27/2019] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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9
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The structure of the oxidized state of cytochrome c oxidase - experiments and theory compared. J Inorg Biochem 2020; 206:111020. [PMID: 32062501 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2020.111020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2019] [Revised: 01/31/2020] [Accepted: 02/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Cytochrome c oxidase (CcO), the terminal enzyme in the respiratory chain, reduces molecular oxygen to water. Experimental data on the midpoint potentials of the heme iron/copper active site cofactors do not match the overall reaction energetics, and are also in conflict with the observed efficiency of energy conservation in CcO. Therefore it has been postulated that the ferric/cupric intermediate (the oxidized state) exists in two forms. One form, labelled OH, is presumably involved during catalytic turnover, and should have a high CuB midpoint potential due to a metastable high energy structure. When no more electrons are supplied, the OH state supposedly relaxes to the resting form, labelled O, with a lower energy and a lower midpoint potential. It has been suggested that there is a pure geometrical difference between the OH and O states, obtained by moving a water molecule inside the active site. It is shown here that the difference between the two forms of the oxidized state must be of a more chemical nature. The reason is that all types of geometrically relaxed structures of the oxidized intermediate have similar energies, all with a high proton coupled reduction potential in accordance with the postulated OH state. One hypothesized chemical modification of the OH state is the transfer of an extra proton, possibly internal, into the active site. Such a protonated state has several properties that agree with experimental data on the relaxed oxidized state, including a decreased midpoint potential.
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Capitanio G, Palese LL, Papa F, Papa S. Allosteric Cooperativity in Proton Energy Conversion in A1-Type Cytochrome c Oxidase. J Mol Biol 2019; 432:534-551. [PMID: 31626808 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2019.09.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2019] [Revised: 09/06/2019] [Accepted: 09/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Cytochrome c oxidase (CcO), the CuA, heme a, heme a3, CuB enzyme of respiratory chain, converts the free energy released by aerobic cytochrome c oxidation into a membrane electrochemical proton gradient (ΔμH+). ΔμH+ derives from the membrane anisotropic arrangement of dioxygen reduction to two water molecules and transmembrane proton pumping from a negative (N) space to a positive (P) space separated by the membrane. Spectroscopic, potentiometric, and X-ray crystallographic analyses characterize allosteric cooperativity of dioxygen binding and reduction with protonmotive conformational states of CcO. These studies show that allosteric cooperativity stabilizes the favorable conformational state for conversion of redox energy into a transmembrane ΔμH+.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppe Capitanio
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sense Organs, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", 70124 Bari, Italy
| | - Luigi Leonardo Palese
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sense Organs, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", 70124 Bari, Italy
| | - Francesco Papa
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sense Organs, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", 70124 Bari, Italy
| | - Sergio Papa
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sense Organs, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", 70124 Bari, Italy; Department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, 80121 Napoli, Italy.
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