Design of a helix-bundle cross-link: NMR and UV-visible spectroscopic analyses and molecular modeling of ring-oxidized retinals

Ring oxidized retinals form unusual bacteriorhodopsin analogue pigments

Three ring oxidized retinal analogues have been isolated from the exhaustive oxidation of all-trans retinal. All-trans 4-oxoretinal and 2,3-dehydro-4-oxoretinal have similar absorption maxima to that of all-trans retinal and have been shown to be in the 6-s-cis conformation in solution. Pigments formed with bacterioopsin exhibit absorption maxima (520 nm) blue-shifted from that of bacteriorhodopsin (bR), indicating a disturbance of the external point charge by the electronegative carbonyl moiety at the 4 position. The third analogue contains a ring contracted to a cyclopentenyl-alpha,beta-dione. Unlike the majority of retinals, this analogue displays a 6-s-trans conformation in solution and has a red-shifted absorption maximum at 435 nm. The resulting bR analogue pigment (515 nm) is formed five times faster than the other oxoretinal pigments. All three oxoretinal pigments show an irreversible 20 nm blue shift upon exposure to white light. The 4-oxo and 2,3-dehydro-4-oxoretinal pigments, after irradiation, undergo a small reversible blue shift (4-8 nm) on dark adaptation. These two pigments pump protons, although with slowed photocycle kinetics, demonstrating that these structural changes (addition of the carbonyl at the C-4 and insertion of a double bond in the ring) do not block the function of the pigment. Extraction of the C-15 tritiated analogue retinals from illuminated and non-illuminated pigments of all three oxoretinals yield identical results. Therefore, any crosslinking of these oxoretinals to the protein is by linkages which are unstable to the extraction procedures.