1
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Hong JD, Palczewski K. A short story on how chromophore is hydrolyzed from rhodopsin for recycling. Bioessays 2023; 45:e2300068. [PMID: 37454357 PMCID: PMC10614701 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202300068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2023] [Revised: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023]
Abstract
The photocycle of visual opsins is essential to maintain the light sensitivity of the retina. The early physical observations of the rhodopsin photocycle by Böll and Kühne in the 1870s inspired over a century's worth of investigations on rhodopsin biochemistry. A single photon isomerizes the Schiff-base linked 11-cis-retinylidene chromophore of rhodopsin, converting it to the all-trans agonist to elicit phototransduction through photoactivated rhodopsin (Rho*). Schiff base hydrolysis of the agonist is a key step in the photocycle, not only diminishing ongoing phototransduction but also allowing for entry and binding of fresh 11-cis chromophore to regenerate the rhodopsin pigment and maintain light sensitivity. Many challenges have been encountered in measuring the rate of this hydrolysis, but recent advancements have facilitated studies of the hydrolysis within the native membrane environment of rhodopsin. These techniques can now be applied to study hydrolysis of agonist in other opsin proteins that mediate phototransduction or chromophore turnover. In this review, we discuss the progress that has been made in characterizing the rhodopsin photocycle and the journey to characterize the hydrolysis of its all-trans-retinylidene agonist.
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Affiliation(s)
- John D. Hong
- Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Department of Chemistry, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Krzysztof Palczewski
- Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Department of Chemistry, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
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2
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Fanelli F, Felline A, Marigo V. Structural aspects of rod opsin and their implication in genetic diseases. Pflugers Arch 2021; 473:1339-1359. [PMID: 33728518 DOI: 10.1007/s00424-021-02546-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2021] [Revised: 02/17/2021] [Accepted: 02/22/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Vision in dim-light conditions is triggered by photoactivation of rhodopsin, the visual pigment of rod photoreceptor cells. Rhodopsin is made of a protein, the G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) opsin, and the chromophore 11-cis-retinal. Vertebrate rod opsin is the GPCR best characterized at the atomic level of detail. Since the release of the first crystal structure 20 years ago, a huge number of structures have been released that, in combination with valuable spectroscopic determinations, unveiled most aspects of the photobleaching process. A number of spontaneous mutations of rod opsin have been found linked to vision-impairing diseases like autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (adRP or arRP, respectively) and autosomal congenital stationary night blindness (adCSNB). While adCSNB is mainly caused by constitutive activation of rod opsin, RP shows more variegate determinants affecting different aspects of rod opsin function. The vast majority of missense rod opsin mutations affects folding and trafficking and is linked to adRP, an incurable disease that awaits light on its molecular structure determinants. This review article summarizes all major structural information available on vertebrate rod opsin conformational states and the insights gained so far into the structural determinants of adCSNB and adRP linked to rod opsin mutations. Strategies to design small chaperones with therapeutic potential for selected adRP rod opsin mutants will be discussed as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Fanelli
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via Campi 103, 41125, Modena, Italy. .,Center for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via Campi 287, Modena, 41125, Italy.
| | - Angelo Felline
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via Campi 103, 41125, Modena, Italy
| | - Valeria Marigo
- Center for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via Campi 287, Modena, 41125, Italy.,Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via Campi 287, 41125, Modena, Italy
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3
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Imamoto Y, Kojima K, Oka T, Maeda R, Shichida Y. Conformational Differences among Metarhodopsin I, Metarhodopsin II, and Opsin Probed by Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering. J Phys Chem B 2019; 123:9134-9142. [PMID: 31580080 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b08311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Among the photoproducts of vertebrate rhodopsin, only metarhodopsin II (Meta-II) preferentially adopts the active structure in which transmembrane helices are rearranged. Light-induced helical rearrangement of rhodopsin in membrane-embedded form was directly monitored by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) using nanodiscs. The change in the WAXS curve for the formation of Meta-II was characterized by a peak at 0.2 Å-1 and a valley at 0.6 Å-1, which were not observed in metarhodopsin I and opsin. However, acid-induced active opsin (Opsin*) showed a 0.2 Å-1 peak, but no 0.6 Å-1 valley. Analyses using the model structures based on the crystal structures of dark state and Meta-II suggest that the outward movement of helix VI occurred in Opsin*. However, the displaced helices III and V in Meta-II resulting from the disruption of cytoplasmic ionic lock were restored in Opsin*, which is likely to destabilize the G-protein-activating structure of opsin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasushi Imamoto
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science , Kyoto University , Kyoto 606-8502 , Japan
| | - Keiichi Kojima
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science , Kyoto University , Kyoto 606-8502 , Japan
| | | | - Ryo Maeda
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science , Kyoto University , Kyoto 606-8502 , Japan
| | - Yoshinori Shichida
- Research Organization for Science and Technology , Ritsumeikan University , Kusatsu , Shiga 525-8577 , Japan
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4
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Sakai K, Tsutsui K, Yamashita T, Iwabe N, Takahashi K, Wada A, Shichida Y. Drosophila melanogaster rhodopsin Rh7 is a UV-to-visible light sensor with an extraordinarily broad absorption spectrum. Sci Rep 2017; 7:7349. [PMID: 28779161 PMCID: PMC5544684 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-07461-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2017] [Accepted: 06/28/2017] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The genome of Drosophila melanogaster contains seven rhodopsin genes. Rh1-6 proteins are known to have respective absorption spectra and function as visual pigments in ocelli and compound eyes. In contrast, Rh7 protein was recently revealed to function as a circadian photoreceptor in the brain. However, its molecular properties have not been characterized yet. Here we successfully prepared a recombinant protein of Drosophila Rh7 in mammalian cultured cells. Drosophila Rh7 bound both 11-cis-retinal and 11-cis-3-hydroxyretinal to form photo-pigments which can absorb UV light. Irradiation with UV light caused formation of a visible-light absorbing metarhodopsin that activated Gq-type of G protein. This state could be photoconverted back to the original state and, thus Rh7 is a Gq-coupled bistable pigment. Interestingly, Rh7 (lambda max = 350 nm) exhibited an unusual broad spectrum with a longer wavelength tail reaching 500 nm, whose shape is like a composite of spectra of two pigments. In contrast, replacement of lysine at position 90 with glutamic acid caused the formation of a normal-shaped absorption spectrum with maximum at 450 nm. Therefore, Rh7 is a unique photo-sensor that can cover a wide wavelength region by a single pigment to contribute to non-visual photoreception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazumi Sakai
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan
| | - Kei Tsutsui
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan
| | - Takahiro Yamashita
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan
| | - Naoyuki Iwabe
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan
| | - Keisuke Takahashi
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan
| | - Akimori Wada
- Department of Organic Chemistry for Life Science, Kobe Pharmaceutical University, Kobe, 658-8558, Japan
| | - Yoshinori Shichida
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan. .,Research Organization for Science and Technology, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Shiga, 525-8577, Japan.
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5
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Szundi I, Funatogawa C, Kliger DS. Complexity of Bovine Rhodopsin Activation Revealed at Low Temperature and Alkaline pH. Biochemistry 2016; 55:5095-105. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.6b00687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Istvan Szundi
- Department
of Chemistry and
Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064, United States
| | - Chie Funatogawa
- Department
of Chemistry and
Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064, United States
| | - David S. Kliger
- Department
of Chemistry and
Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064, United States
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6
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Retinal Conformation Changes Rhodopsin's Dynamic Ensemble. Biophys J 2016; 109:608-17. [PMID: 26244742 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2015.06.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2015] [Revised: 06/17/2015] [Accepted: 06/19/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
G protein-coupled receptors are vital membrane proteins that allosterically transduce biomolecular signals across the cell membrane. However, the process by which ligand binding induces protein conformation changes is not well understood biophysically. Rhodopsin, the mammalian dim-light receptor, is a unique test case for understanding these processes because of its switch-like activity; the ligand, retinal, is bound throughout the activation cycle, switching from inverse agonist to agonist after absorbing a photon. By contrast, the ligand-free opsin is outside the activation cycle and may behave differently. We find that retinal influences rhodopsin dynamics using an ensemble of all-atom molecular dynamics simulations that in aggregate contain 100 μs of sampling. Active retinal destabilizes the inactive state of the receptor, whereas the active ensemble was more structurally homogenous. By contrast, simulations of an active-like receptor without retinal present were much more heterogeneous than those containing retinal. These results suggest allosteric processes are more complicated than a ligand inducing protein conformational changes or simply capturing a shifted ensemble as outlined in classic models of allostery.
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7
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Dong X, Ramon E, Herrera-Hernández MG, Garriga P. Phospholipid Bicelles Improve the Conformational Stability of Rhodopsin Mutants Associated with Retinitis Pigmentosa. Biochemistry 2015; 54:4795-804. [PMID: 26181234 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.5b00435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Mutations in the visual photoreceptor rhodopsin are the cause of the retinal degenerative disease retinitis pigmentosa. Some naturally occurring mutations can lead to protein conformational instability. Two such mutations, N55K and G90V, in the first and second transmembrane helices of the receptor, have been associated with sector and classical retinitis pigmentosa, respectively, and showed enhanced thermal sensitivity. We have carefully analyzed the effect of phospholipid bicelles on the stability and ligand binding properties of these two mutants and compared it with those of the detergent-solubilized samples. We have used a phospholipid bilayer consisting of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and 1,2-dihexanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DHPC). We find that DMPC/DHPC bicelles dramatically increase the thermal stability of the rhodopsin mutants G90V and N55K. The chromophore stability and regeneration of the mutants were also increased in bicelles when compared to their behavior in a dodecyl maltoside detergent solution. The retinal release process was slowed in bicelles, and chromophore entry, after illumination, was improved for the G90V mutant but not for N55K. Furthermore, fluorescence spectroscopy measurements showed that bicelles allowed more exogenous retinal binding to the photoactivated G90V mutant than in a detergent solution. In contrast, N55K could not reposition any chromophore either in the detergent or in bicelles. The results demonstrate that DMPC/DHPC bicelles can counteract the destabilizing effect of the disease-causing mutations and can modulate the structural changes in the ensuing receptor photoactivation in a distinct specific manner for different retinitis pigmentosa mutant phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyun Dong
- Grup de Biotecnologia Molecular i Industrial, Centre de Biotecnologia Molecular, Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Edifici Gaia, Rambla de Sant Nebridi 22, 08222 Terrassa, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Eva Ramon
- Grup de Biotecnologia Molecular i Industrial, Centre de Biotecnologia Molecular, Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Edifici Gaia, Rambla de Sant Nebridi 22, 08222 Terrassa, Catalonia, Spain
| | - María Guadalupe Herrera-Hernández
- Grup de Biotecnologia Molecular i Industrial, Centre de Biotecnologia Molecular, Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Edifici Gaia, Rambla de Sant Nebridi 22, 08222 Terrassa, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Pere Garriga
- Grup de Biotecnologia Molecular i Industrial, Centre de Biotecnologia Molecular, Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Edifici Gaia, Rambla de Sant Nebridi 22, 08222 Terrassa, Catalonia, Spain
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8
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Maeda R, Hiroshima M, Yamashita T, Wada A, Nishimura S, Sako Y, Shichida Y, Imamoto Y. Single-molecule observation of the ligand-induced population shift of rhodopsin, a G-protein-coupled receptor. Biophys J 2014; 106:915-24. [PMID: 24559994 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2014.01.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2013] [Revised: 12/26/2013] [Accepted: 01/10/2014] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Rhodopsin is a G-protein-coupled receptor, in which retinal chromophore acts as inverse-agonist or agonist depending on its configuration and protonation state. Photostimulation of rhodopsin results in a pH-dependent equilibrium between the active state (Meta-II) and its inactive precursor (Meta-I). Here, we monitored conformational changes of rhodopsin using a fluorescent probe Alexa594 at the cytoplasmic surface, which shows fluorescence increase upon the generation of active state, by single-molecule measurements. The fluorescence intensity of a single photoactivated rhodopsin molecule alternated between two states. Interestingly, such a fluorescence alternation was also observed for ligand-free rhodopsin (opsin), but not for dark-state rhodopsin. In addition, the pH-dependences of Meta-I/Meta-II equilibrium estimated by fluorescence measurements deviated notably from estimates based on absorption spectra, indicating that both Meta-I and Meta-II are mixtures of two conformers. Our observations indicate that rhodopsin molecules intrinsically adopt both active and inactive conformations, and the ligand retinal shifts the conformational equilibrium. These findings provide dynamical insights into the activation mechanisms of G-protein-coupled receptors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryo Maeda
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Michio Hiroshima
- Cellular Informatics Laboratory, RIKEN, Wako, Japan; Laboratory for Cell Signaling Dynamics, RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center, Furuedai, Suita, Japan
| | - Takahiro Yamashita
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Akimori Wada
- Department of Organic Chemistry for Life Science, Kobe Pharmaceutical University, Kobe, Japan
| | - Shoko Nishimura
- Cellular and Structural Physiology Institute, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
| | - Yasushi Sako
- Cellular Informatics Laboratory, RIKEN, Wako, Japan
| | - Yoshinori Shichida
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yasushi Imamoto
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
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9
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Sato K, Yamashita T, Shichida Y. Contribution of glutamic acid in the conserved E/DRY triad to the functional properties of rhodopsin. Biochemistry 2014; 53:4420-5. [PMID: 24960425 DOI: 10.1021/bi5003772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Rhodopsin is a G protein-coupled receptor specialized for photoreception and contains a light-absorbing chromophore retinal that binds to the lysine residue of opsin through a protonated Schiff base linkage. Light converts rhodopsin to an equilibrium mixture of the active state metarhodopsin II (MII) and its precursor, metarhodopsin I (MI), which have deprotonated and protonated Schiff base chromophores, respectively. This equilibrium was thought to depend on the pKa of not the Schiff base chromophore but glutamic acid E134 in the highly conserved E/DRY triad in helix III. We performed mutational analyses of E134 and nearby residues to examine whether the equilibrium is really dependent on the pKa of E134 and to obtain clues about the contribution of E134 to the G protein activation characteristics of rhodopsin. All the single mutants at position 134 except for E134D lost the characteristic pH-dependent equilibrium, indicating that the carboxyl group of E134 is responsible for the equilibrium. Interestingly, mutation at position 134 caused little change in the MI or MII spectra or G protein activation efficiency of MII, while it caused a shift of the MI-MII equilibrium. The mutants containing hydrophobic or amide-containing residues at position 134 formed an equilibrium in favor of MII, resulting in an increase in light-induced G protein activation efficiency. On the other hand, the wild type exhibited an opsin activity lower than those of the mutants, which exhibited reasonable light-dependent activities. These results strongly suggest that the evolutionary significance of E134 is not an increase in G protein activity but rather suppression of the opsin activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keita Sato
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University , Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
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10
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Yamazaki Y, Nagata T, Terakita A, Kandori H, Shichida Y, Imamoto Y. Intramolecular interactions that induce helical rearrangement upon rhodopsin activation: light-induced structural changes in metarhodopsin IIa probed by cysteine S-H stretching vibrations. J Biol Chem 2014; 289:13792-800. [PMID: 24692562 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m113.527606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Rhodopsin undergoes rearrangements of its transmembrane helices after photon absorption to transfer a light signal to the G-protein transducin. To investigate the mechanism by which rhodopsin adopts the transducin-activating conformation, the local environmental changes in the transmembrane region were probed using the cysteine S-H group, whose stretching frequency is well isolated from the other protein vibrational modes. The S-H stretching modes of cysteine residues introduced into Helix III, which contains several key residues for the helical movements, and of native cysteine residues were measured by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. This method was applied to metarhodopsin IIa, a precursor of the transducin-activating state in which the intramolecular interactions are likely to produce a state ready for helical movements. No environmental change was observed near the ionic lock between Arg-135 in Helix III and Glu-247 in Helix VI that maintains the inactive conformation. Rather, the cysteine residues that showed environmental changes were located around the chromophore, Ala-164, His-211, and Phe-261. These findings imply that the hydrogen bond between Helix III and Helix V involving Glu-122 and His-211 and the hydrophobic packing between Helix III and Helix VI involving Gly-121, Leu-125, Phe-261, and Trp-265 are altered before the helical rearrangement leading toward the active conformation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoichi Yamazaki
- From the Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan, the Graduate School of Materials Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Nara, 630-0192, Japan
| | - Tomoko Nagata
- From the Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Akihisa Terakita
- From the Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan, the Department of Biology and Geosciences, Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Osaka 558-8585, Japan, and
| | - Hideki Kandori
- From the Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan, the Department of Frontier Materials, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya 466-8555, Japan
| | - Yoshinori Shichida
- From the Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Yasushi Imamoto
- From the Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan,
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11
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Ernst OP, Lodowski DT, Elstner M, Hegemann P, Brown L, Kandori H. Microbial and animal rhodopsins: structures, functions, and molecular mechanisms. Chem Rev 2014; 114:126-63. [PMID: 24364740 PMCID: PMC3979449 DOI: 10.1021/cr4003769] [Citation(s) in RCA: 759] [Impact Index Per Article: 75.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2013] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Oliver P. Ernst
- Departments
of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, 1 King’s College Circle, Medical Sciences Building, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada
| | - David T. Lodowski
- Center
for Proteomics and Bioinformatics, Case
Western Reserve University School of Medicine, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, United States
| | - Marcus Elstner
- Institute
for Physical Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute
of Technology, Kaiserstrasse
12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Peter Hegemann
- Institute
of Biology, Experimental Biophysics, Humboldt-Universität
zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse
42, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Leonid
S. Brown
- Department
of Physics and Biophysics Interdepartmental Group, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Hideki Kandori
- Department
of Frontier Materials, Nagoya Institute
of Technology, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8555, Japan
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12
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Kojima K, Imamoto Y, Maeda R, Yamashita T, Shichida Y. Rod visual pigment optimizes active state to achieve efficient G protein activation as compared with cone visual pigments. J Biol Chem 2013; 289:5061-73. [PMID: 24375403 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m113.508507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Most vertebrate retinas contain two types of photoreceptor cells, rods and cones, which show different photoresponses to mediate scotopic and photopic vision, respectively. These cells contain different types of visual pigments, rhodopsin and cone visual pigments, respectively, but little is known about the molecular properties of cone visual pigments under physiological conditions, making it difficult to link the molecular properties of rhodopsin and cone visual pigments with the differences in photoresponse between rods and cones. Here we prepared bovine and mouse rhodopsin (bvRh and mRh) and chicken and mouse green-sensitive cone visual pigments (cG and mG) embedded in nanodiscs and applied time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy to compare their Gt activation efficiencies. Rhodopsin exhibited greater Gt activation efficiencies than cone visual pigments. Especially, the Gt activation efficiency of mRh was about 2.5-fold greater than that of mG at 37 °C, which is consistent with our previous electrophysiological data of knock-in mice. Although the active state (Meta-II) was in equilibrium with inactive states (Meta-I and Meta-III), quantitative determination of Meta-II in the equilibrium showed that the Gt activation efficiency per Meta-II of bvRh was also greater than those of cG and mG. These results indicated that efficient Gt activation by rhodopsin, resulting from an optimized active state of rhodopsin, is one of the causes of the high amplification efficiency of rods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keiichi Kojima
- From the Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
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13
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Imamoto Y, Shichida Y. Cone visual pigments. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOENERGETICS 2013; 1837:664-73. [PMID: 24021171 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2013.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2013] [Revised: 08/07/2013] [Accepted: 08/30/2013] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Cone visual pigments are visual opsins that are present in vertebrate cone photoreceptor cells and act as photoreceptor molecules responsible for photopic vision. Like the rod visual pigment rhodopsin, which is responsible for scotopic vision, cone visual pigments contain the chromophore 11-cis-retinal, which undergoes cis-trans isomerization resulting in the induction of conformational changes of the protein moiety to form a G protein-activating state. There are multiple types of cone visual pigments with different absorption maxima, which are the molecular basis of color discrimination in animals. Cone visual pigments form a phylogenetic sister group with non-visual opsin groups such as pinopsin, VA opsin, parapinopsin and parietopsin groups. Cone visual pigments diverged into four groups with different absorption maxima, and the rhodopsin group diverged from one of the four groups of cone visual pigments. The photochemical behavior of cone visual pigments is similar to that of pinopsin but considerably different from those of other non-visual opsins. G protein activation efficiency of cone visual pigments is also comparable to that of pinopsin but higher than that of the other non-visual opsins. Recent measurements with sufficient time-resolution demonstrated that G protein activation efficiency of cone visual pigments is lower than that of rhodopsin, which is one of the molecular bases for the lower amplification of cones compared to rods. In this review, the uniqueness of cone visual pigments is shown by comparison of their molecular properties with those of non-visual opsins and rhodopsin. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Retinal Proteins - You can teach an old dog new tricks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasushi Imamoto
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Yoshinori Shichida
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
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14
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Imamoto Y, Seki I, Yamashita T, Shichida Y. Efficiencies of activation of transducin by cone and rod visual pigments. Biochemistry 2013; 52:3010-8. [PMID: 23570417 DOI: 10.1021/bi3015967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
How the light-induced transducin (Gt) activation process differs biochemically between cone visual pigments and rod visual pigment (rhodopsin) has remained unclear, because the Gt-activating state (Meta-II) of cone visual pigment decays too fast to precisely measure the activation efficiency by conventional biochemical methods such as the GTPγS binding assay. Here we measured the activation efficiencies of chicken green-sensitive cone visual pigment (cG) and bovine rhodopsin (bRh) in real time by monitoring the intrinsic fluorescence of tryptophan residues in the pigments and Gt. Michaelis-Menten analysis of Gt activation showed that the initial velocity for cG was approximately half that for bRh, while their Michaelis constants were comparable. Gt activation by cG was immediately slowed because of the fast hydrolysis of the retinal Schiff base in Meta-II, but this hydrolysis was suppressed by forming the complex with Gt. Using mutants of cG and bRh for positions 122 and 189, which exhibit altered rates of chromophore hydrolysis in Meta-II, we found that the initial velocity of Gt activation is negatively correlated with the rate of chromophore hydrolysis. These results suggest that the amino acid residues at positions 122 and 189 account for not only the resistance to the chromophore hydrolysis in Meta-II but also the conformation of Meta-II for efficient Gt activation. The substantially longer lifetime of the Gt activating state of Rh would be necessary to suppress the spontaneous quenching by the stochastic decay of the Gt-activating state when a rod responds to a single photon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasushi Imamoto
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
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Sato K, Yamashita T, Imamoto Y, Shichida Y. Comparative Studies on the Late Bleaching Processes of Four Kinds of Cone Visual Pigments and Rod Visual Pigment. Biochemistry 2012; 51:4300-8. [DOI: 10.1021/bi3000885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Keita Sato
- Department of Biophysics,
Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Takahiro Yamashita
- Department of Biophysics,
Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Yasushi Imamoto
- Department of Biophysics,
Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Yoshinori Shichida
- Department of Biophysics,
Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
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Lomonosova E, Kolesnikov AV, Kefalov VJ, Kisselev OG. Signaling states of rhodopsin in rod disk membranes lacking transducin βγ-complex. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2012; 53:1225-33. [PMID: 22266510 DOI: 10.1167/iovs.11-9350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE To characterize the possible role of transducin Gtβγ-complex in modulating the signaling properties of photoactivated rhodopsin and its lifetime in rod disc membranes and intact rods. METHODS Rhodopsin photolysis was studied using UV-visible spectroscopy and rapid scanning spectroscopy in the presence of hydroxylamine in highly purified wild-type and Gtγ-deficient mouse rod disc membranes. Complex formation between photoactivated rhodopsin and transducin was measured by extra-metarhodopsin (meta) II assay. Recovery of dark current and flash sensitivity in individual intact wild-type and Gtγ-deficient mouse rods was measured by single-cell suction recordings. RESULTS Photoconversion of rhodopsin to meta I/meta II equilibrium proceeds normally after elimination of the Gtβγ-complex. The meta I/meta II ratio, the rate of meta II decay, the reactivity of meta II toward hydroxylamine, and the rate of meta III formation in Gtγ-deficient rod disc membranes were identical with those observed in wild-type samples. Under low-intensity illumination, the amount of extra-meta II in Gtγ-deficient discs was significantly reduced. The initial rate of dark current recovery after 12% rhodopsin bleach was three times faster in Gtγ-deficient rods, whereas the rate of the late current recovery was largely unchanged. Mutant rods also exhibited faster postbleach recovery of flash sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS Photoactivation and thermal decay of rhodopsin proceed similarly in wild-type and Gtγ-deficient mouse rods, but the complex formation between photoactivated rhodopsin and transducin is severely compromised in the absence of Gtβγ. The resultant lower transduction activation contributes to faster photoresponse recovery after a moderate pigment bleach in Gtγ-deficient rods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Lomonosova
- Department of Ophthalmology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA
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Fanelli F, De Benedetti PG. Update 1 of: computational modeling approaches to structure-function analysis of G protein-coupled receptors. Chem Rev 2011; 111:PR438-535. [PMID: 22165845 DOI: 10.1021/cr100437t] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Fanelli
- Dulbecco Telethon Institute, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via Campi 183, 41125 Modena, Italy.
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Kaya AI, Thaker TM, Preininger AM, Iverson TM, Hamm HE. Coupling efficiency of rhodopsin and transducin in bicelles. Biochemistry 2011; 50:3193-203. [PMID: 21375271 DOI: 10.1021/bi200037j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) can be activated by various extracellular stimuli, including hormones, peptides, odorants, neurotransmitters, nucleotides, or light. After activation, receptors interact with heterotrimeric G proteins and catalyze GDP release from the Gα subunit, the rate limiting step in G protein activation, to form a high affinity nucleotide-free GPCR-G protein complex. In vivo, subsequent GTP binding reduces affinity of the Gα protein for the activated receptor. In this study, we investigated the biochemical and structural characteristics of the prototypical GPCR, rhodopsin, and its signaling partner, transducin (G(t)), in bicelles to better understand the effects of membrane composition on high affinity complex formation, stability, and receptor mediated nucleotide release. Our results demonstrate that the high-affinity complex (rhodopsin-G(t)(empty)) forms more readily and has dramatically increased stability when rhodopsin is integrated into bicelles of a defined composition. We increased the half-life of functional complex to 1 week in the presence of negatively charged phospholipids. These data suggest that a membrane-like structure is an important contributor to the formation and stability of functional receptor-G protein complexes and can extend the range of studies that investigate properties of these complexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ali I Kaya
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-6600, United States
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Zaitseva E, Brown MF, Vogel R. Sequential rearrangement of interhelical networks upon rhodopsin activation in membranes: the Meta II(a) conformational substate. J Am Chem Soc 2010; 132:4815-21. [PMID: 20230054 DOI: 10.1021/ja910317a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Photon absorption by rhodopsin is proposed to lead to an activation pathway that is described by the extended reaction scheme Meta I <==>Meta II(a) <==> Meta II(b) <==> Meta II(b)H(+), where Meta II(b)H(+) is thought to be the conformational substate that activates the G protein transducin. Here we test this extended scheme for rhodopsin in a membrane bilayer environment by investigating lipid perturbation of the activation mechanism. We found that symmetric membrane lipids having two unsaturated acyl chains, such as 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC), selectively stabilize the Meta II(a) substate in the above mechanism. By combining FTIR and UV-visible difference spectroscopy, we characterized the structural and functional changes involved in the transition to the Meta II(a) intermediate, which links the inactive Meta I intermediate with the Meta II(b) states formed by helix rearrangement. Besides the opening of the Schiff base ionic lock, the Meta II(a) substate is characterized by an activation switch in a conserved water-mediated hydrogen-bonded network involving transmembrane helices H1/H2/H7, which is sensed by its key residue Asp83. On the other hand, movement of retinal toward H5 and its interaction with another interhelical H3/H5 network mediated by His211 and Glu122 is absent in Meta II(a). The latter rearrangement takes place only in the subsequent transition to Meta II(b), which has been previously associated with movement of H6. Our results imply that activating structural changes in the H1/H2/H7 network are triggered by disruption of the Schiff base salt bridge and occur prior to other chromophore-induced changes in the H3/H5 network and the outward tilt of H6 in the activation process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ekaterina Zaitseva
- Biophysics Section, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research, University of Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Str. 9, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
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Abstract
Activation of GPCRs (G-protein-coupled receptors) leads to conformational changes that ultimately initiate signal transduction. Activated GPCRs transiently combine with and activate heterotrimeric G-proteins resulting in GTP replacement of GDP on the G-protein alpha subunit. Both the detailed structural changes essential for productive GDP/GTP exchange on the G-protein alpha subunit and the structure of the GPCR-G-protein complex itself have yet to be elucidated. Nevertheless, transient GPCR-G-protein complexes can be trapped by nucleotide depletion, yielding an empty-nucleotide G-protein-GPCR complex that can be isolated. Whereas early biochemical studies indicated formation of a complex between G-protein and activated receptor only, more recent results suggest that G-protein can bind to pre-activated states of receptor or even couple transiently to non-activated receptor to facilitate rapid responses to stimuli. Efficient and reproducible formation of physiologically relevant, conformationally homogenous GPCR-G-protein complexes is a prerequisite for structural studies designed to address these possibilities.
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