Factors controlling the redox potential of ZnCe6 in an engineered bacterioferritin photochemical 'reaction centre'

Deprotonation of Water/Hydroxo Ligands in Clusters Mimicking the Water Oxidizing Complex of PSII and Its Effect on the Vibrational Frequencies of Ligated Carboxylate Groups

The IR absorptions of several first-shell carboxylate ligands of the water oxidizing complex (WOC) have been experimentally shown to be unaffected by oxidation state changes in the WOC during its catalytic cycle. Several model clusters that mimic the Mn4O5Ca core of the WOC in the S1 state, with electronic configurations that correspond to both the so-called "high" and "low" oxidation paradigms, were investigated. Deprotonation at W2, W1, or O3 sites was found to strongly reduce carboxylate ligand frequency shifts on oxidation of the metal cluster. The frequency shifts were smallest in neutrally charged clusters where the initial mean Mn oxidation state was +3, with W2 as an hydroxide and O5 a water. Deprotonation also reduced and balanced the oxidation energy of all clusters in successive oxidations.

Photochemistry of free and bound Zn-chlorophyll analogues to synthetic peptides depend on the quinone and pH

A synthetic peptide was used as a scaffold to bind Zn-Chlorophyll (ZnChl) analogues through histidine ligation to study their photochemistry in the presence of different type of quinones. The Chl analogues were chlorin e6 (Ce6), chlorin e6 trimethyl ester, pyropheophorbide a, and pheophorbide a while the quinones were PPBQ, DMBQ, NPHQ, DBTQ, DCBQ and PBQ. The binding of each ZnChl analogue to the peptide was verified by native gel electrophoresis. First the photo-stability of the ZnChl analogues were tested under continuous light. The ZnCe6 and ZnCe6TM analogues showed the least stability judged by the loss of optical signal intensity at their Qy band. The photoactivity of each ZnChl analogue was measured in the presence of each of the six quinones using time-resolved EPR spectroscopy. DMBQ was found to be the most efficient electron acceptor when all four ZnChl analogues were compared. The light-induced electron transfer between the ZnChl analogues complexed with the peptide and DMBQ were also measured using time-resolved EPR spectroscopy. The ZnCe6-peptide complex exhibited the highest photoactivity. The electron transfer in the complex was faster and the photoactivity yield was higher than those values obtained for free ZnCe6 and DMBQ. The fast phase of kinetics can be attributed to intra-protein electron transfer in the complex since it was not observed in the presence of DMBQ-glutathione adduct. Unlike free ZnCe6, the ZnCe6-peptide complex was robust and demonstrated very similar photoactivity efficiency in pH values 10, 8.0 and 5.0. The electron transfer kinetics were pH dependent and appeared to be modulated by the peptide charge and possibly fold. The charge recombination rate was slowed by an order of magnitude when the pH value was changed from 10.0 to 5.0. The implications of constructing the photoactive peptide complexes in terms of artificial photosynthesis are discussed.

Potentiation of photoinactivation of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria mediated by six phenothiazinium dyes by addition of azide ion

Antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation (APDI) using phenothiazinium dyes is mediated by reactive oxygen species consisting of a combination of singlet oxygen (quenched by azide), hydroxyl radicals and other reactive oxygen species. We recently showed that addition of sodium azide paradoxically potentiated APDI of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria using methylene blue as the photosensitizer, and this was due to electron transfer to the dye triplet state from azide anion, producing azidyl radical. Here we compare this effect using six different homologous phenothiazinium dyes: methylene blue, toluidine blue O, new methylene blue, dimethylmethylene blue, azure A, and azure B. We found both significant potentiation (up to 2 logs) and also significant inhibition (>3 logs) of killing by adding 10 mM azide depending on Gram classification, washing the dye from the cells, and dye structure. Killing of E. coli was potentiated with all 6 dyes after a wash, while S. aureus killing was only potentiated by MB and TBO with a wash and DMMB with no wash. More lipophilic dyes (higher log P value, such as DMMB) were more likely to show potentiation. We conclude that the Type I photochemical mechanism (potentiation with azide) likely depends on the microenvironment, i.e. higher binding of dye to bacteria. Bacterial dye-binding is thought to be higher with Gram-negative compared to Gram-positive bacteria, when unbound dye has been washed away, and with more lipophilic dyes.

Photo-oxidation of tyrosine in a bio-engineered bacterioferritin 'reaction centre'-a protein model for artificial photosynthesis

The photosynthetic reaction centre (RC) is central to the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy and is a model for bio-mimetic engineering approaches to this end. We describe bio-engineering of a Photosystem II (PSII) RC inspired peptide model, building on our earlier studies. A non-photosynthetic haem containing bacterioferritin (BFR) from Escherichia coli that expresses as a homodimer was used as a protein scaffold, incorporating redox-active cofactors mimicking those of PSII. Desirable properties include: a di-nuclear metal binding site which provides ligands for bivalent metals, a hydrophobic pocket at the dimer interface which can bind a photosensitive porphyrin and presence of tyrosine residues proximal to the bound cofactors, which can be utilised as efficient electron-tunnelling intermediates. Light-induced electron transfer from proximal tyrosine residues to the photo-oxidised ZnCe6(•+), in the modified BFR reconstituted with both ZnCe6 and Mn(II), is presented. Three site-specific tyrosine variants (Y25F, Y58F and Y45F) were made to localise the redox-active tyrosine in the engineered system. The results indicate that: presence of bound Mn(II) is necessary to observe tyrosine oxidation in all BFR variants; Y45 the most important tyrosine as an immediate electron donor to the oxidised ZnCe6(•+) and that Y25 and Y58 are both redox-active in this system, but appear to function interchangebaly. High-resolution (2.1Å) crystal structures of the tyrosine variants show that there are no mutation-induced effects on the overall 3-D structure of the protein. Small effects are observed in the Y45F variant. Here, the BFR-RC represents a protein model for artificial photosynthesis.

Ab Initio modeling of the effect of oxidation coupled with HnO deprotonation on carboxylate ligands in Mn/Ca clusters

Oxidation of some manganese complexes containing both carboxylate and water/hydroxo ligands does not result in changes to the carboxylate stretching frequencies. The water oxidizing complex of photosystem II is one motivating example. On the basis of electronic structure theory calculations, we here suggest that the deprotonation of water or hydroxo ligands minimizes changes in the vibrational frequencies of coligating carboxylates, rendering the carboxylate modes "invisible" in FTIR difference spectroscopy. This deprotonation of water/hydroxo ligands was also found to balance the redox potentials of the Mn(II)/Mn(III) and Mn(III)/Mn(IV) couples, allowing the possibility for successive manganese oxidations at a relatively constant redox potential.