Characterization by FTIR spectroscopy of the photoreduction of the primary quinone acceptor QA in photosystem II

Molecular changes associated with the photoreduction of the primary quinone acceptor Qa of photosystem II have been characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. This reaction was light-induced at room temperature on photosystem II membranes in the presence of hydroxylamine and diuron. A positive signal at 1478 cm-1 is assigned to the C---O stretching mode of the semiquinone anion, and can be correlated to the negative C=O mode(s) of the neutral QA at 1645 cm-1 and/or 16 cm-1. Analogies with bacterial reaction center are found in the amide I absorption range at 1672 cm-1, 1653 cm-1 and 1630 cm-1. The stabilization of QA- does not result from a large protein conformation change, but involves perturbations of several amino acid vibrations. At 1658 cm-1, a negative feature sensitive to 1H-2H exchange is tentatively assigned to a NH2 histidine mode, while tryptophan D2252 could contribute to the signal at 1560/1550 cm-1.

Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of redox transitions in photosynthetic reaction centers: comparison of perfusion- and light-induced difference spectra

Chemically induced Fourier transform infrared difference spectra associated with redox transitions of several primary electron donors and acceptors in photosynthetic reaction centers (RCs) have been compared with the light-induced FTIR difference spectra involving the same cofactors. The RCs are deposited on an attenuated total reflection (ATR) prism and form a film that is enclosed in a flow cell. Redox transitions in the film of RCs can be repetitively induced either by perfusion of buffers poised at different redox potentials or by illumination. The perfusion-induced ATR-FTIR difference spectra for the oxidation of the primary electron donor P in the RCs of the purple bacteria Rb. sphaeroides and Rp. viridis and P700 in the photosystem 1 of Synechocystis 6803, as well as the Q(A)/Q(A) transition of the quinone acceptor (Q(A)) in Rb. sphaeroides RCs are reported for the first time. They are compared with the light-induced ATR-FTIR difference spectra P+Q(A)/PQ(A) for the RCs of Rb. sphaeroides and P700+/P700 for photosystem 1. It is shown that the perfusion-induced and light-induced ATR-FTIR difference spectra recorded on the same RC film display identical signal to noise ratios when they are measured under comparable conditions. The ATR-FTIR difference spectra are very similar to the equivalent FTIR difference spectra previously recorded upon photochemical or electrochemical excitation of these RCs in the more conventional transmission mode. The ATR-FTIR technique requires a smaller amount of sample compared with transmission FTIR and allows precise control of the aqueous environment of the RC films.

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and electrochemistry of the primary electron donor in Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Rhodopseudomonas viridis reaction centers: vibrational modes of the pigments in situ and evidence for protein and water modes affected by P+ formation

Protein electrochemistry in an ultra-thin-layer electrochemical cell suitable for UV/vis and IR spectroscopy has been used to characterize the vibrational modes of the primary electron donors of Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Rhodopseudomonas viridis reaction centers in their neutral and cation radical states (P and P+, respectively). The P-->P+ redox transitions could be well separated from redox reactions of other cofactors according to their redox midpoint potential. The IR difference bands of the primary electron donor bacteriochlorophylls all titrate in unison and exhibit the correct midpoint potential. Comparison of the difference spectra with those of isolated bacteriochlorophylls a and b in organic solvents of different polarity and proton activity [Mäntele, W., Wollenweber, A. M., Nabedryk, E., & Breton, J. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 8468-8472] leads to similar conclusions on the binding and interaction of the pigments within the protein matrix as previously obtained from light-induced P+Q-/PQ difference spectra. Equilibration of the reaction centers in D2O leads to few but distinct shifts of bands and changes of band intensities at 1662, 1634, and 1526 cm-1 (Rhodobacter sphaeroides) and 1694, 1664, 1648, 1630, and 1532 cm-1 (Rhodopseudomonas viridis) as well as to smaller deviations at other wavenumbers. The H-->D-sensitive band at 1662 cm-1 is interpreted in terms of a histidine NH2+ bending mode. A second H/D-sensitive difference band around 1648 cm-1 in the Rhodopseudomonas viridis reaction center may be associated with the peptide C = O of one of the amino acids surrounding P [eventually of the histidine(s) ligating the Mg] which is affected by P+ formation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Time-resolved infrared spectroscopy of electron transfer in bacterial photosynthetic reaction centers: dynamics of binding and interaction upon QA and QB reduction

Light-induced forward electron transfer in the bacterial photosynthetic reaction center from Rhodobacter sphaeroides was investigated by time-resolved infrared spectroscopy. Using a highly sensitive kinetic photometer based on a tunable IR diode laser source [Mäntele, W., Hienerwadel, R., Lenz, F., Riedel, W. J., Grisar, R., & Tacke, M. (1990a) Spectrosc. Int. 2, 29-35], molecular processes concomitant with electron-transfer reactions were studied in the microsecond-to-second time scale. Infrared (IR) signals in the 1780-1430-cm-1 spectral region, appearing within the instrument time resolution of about 0.5 microseconds, could be assigned to molecular changes of the primary electron donor upon formation of a radical cation and to modes of the primary quinone electron acceptor QA and its environment upon formation of QA-. These IR signals are consistent with steady-state FTIR difference spectra of the P+Q- formation [Mäntele, W., Nabedryk, E., Tavitian, B. A., Kreutz, W., & Breton, J. (1985) FEBS Lett. 187, 227-232; Mäntele, W., Wollenweber, A., Nabedryk, E., & Breton, J. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 8468-8472; Nabedryk, E., Bagley, K. A., Thibodeau, D. L., Bauscher, M., Mäntele, W., & Breton, J. (1990) FEBS Lett. 266, 59-62] and with time-resolved FTIR studies [Thibodeau, D. L., Nabedryk, E., Hienerwadel, R., Lenz, F., Mäntele, W., & Breton, J. (1990) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1020, 253-259]. At given wavenumbers, kinetic components with a half-time of approximately 120 microseconds were observed and attributed to QA----QB electron transfer. The time-resolved IR signals, in contrast to steady-state experiments where full protein relaxation after electron transfer can occur, allow us to follow directly the modes of QA and QB and their protein environment under conditions of forward electron transfer. Apart from signals attributed to the primary electron donor, signals are proposed to arise not only from the C = O and C = C vibrational modes of the neutral quinones and from the C-O and C-C vibrations of their semiquinone anion form but also from amino acid groups forming their binding sites. Some of the signals appearing with the instrument rise time as well as the transient 120-microseconds signals are interpreted in terms of binding and interaction of the primary and secondary quinone electron acceptor in the Rb. sphaeroides reaction center and of the conformational changes in their binding site.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)