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Excited-state charge separation in the photochemical mechanism of the light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase.

ABSTRACT: The unique light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR) is an important model system for understanding how light energy can be harnessed to power enzyme reactions. The ultrafast photochemical processes, essential for capturing the excitation energy to drive the subsequent hydride- and proton-transfer chemistry, have so far proven difficult to detect. We have used a combination of time-resolved visible and IR spectroscopy, providing complete temporal resolution over the picosecond-microsecond time range, to propose a new mechanism for the photochemistry. Excited-state interactions between active site residues and a carboxyl group on the Pchlide molecule result in a polarized and highly reactive double bond. This so-called "reactive" intramolecular charge-transfer state creates an electron-deficient site across the double bond to trigger the subsequent nucleophilic attack of NADPH, by the negatively charged hydride from nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate. This work provides the crucial, missing link between excited-state processes and chemistry in POR. Moreover, it provides important insight into how light energy can be harnessed to drive enzyme catalysis with implications for the design of light-activated chemical and biological catalysts.

SUBMITTER: Heyes DJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4531822 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Excited-state charge separation in the photochemical mechanism of the light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase.

Heyes Derren J DJ Hardman Samantha J O SJ Hedison Tobias M TM Hoeven Robin R Greetham Greg M GM Towrie Michael M Scrutton Nigel S NS

Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) 20141208 5

The unique light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR) is an important model system for understanding how light energy can be harnessed to power enzyme reactions. The ultrafast photochemical processes, essential for capturing the excitation energy to drive the subsequent hydride- and proton-transfer chemistry, have so far proven difficult to detect. We have used a combination of time-resolved visible and IR spectroscopy, providing complete temporal resolution over the picosecond ...[more]

PMID: 25488797

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Project description:A series of three perylenemonoimide-p-oligophenylene-dimethylaniline molecular dyads undergo photoinduced charge separation (CS) with anomalous distance dependence as a function of increasing donor-acceptor (DA) distances. A comprehensive experimental and computational investigation of the photodynamics in the donor-bridge-acceptor (DBA) chromophores reveals a clear demarcation concerning the nature of the CS accessed at shorter (bridgeless) and longer DA distances. At the shortest distance, a strong DA interaction and ground-state charge delocalization populate a hot excited state (ES) with prominent charge transfer (CT) character, via Franck-Condon vertical excitation. The presence of such a CT-polarized hot ES enables a subpicosecond CS in the bridgeless dyad. The incorporation of the p-oligophenylene bridge effectively decouples the donor and the acceptor units in the ground state and consequentially suppresses the CT polarization in the hot ES. Theoretically, this should render a slower CS at longer distances. However, the transient absorption measurement reveals a fast CS process at the longer distance, contrary to the anticipated exponential distance dependence of the CS rates. A closer look into the excited-state dynamics suggests that the hot ES undergoes ultrafast geometry relaxation (τ < 1 ps) to create a relaxed ES. As compared to a decoupled, twisted geometry in the hot ES, the geometry of the relaxed ES exhibits a more planar conformation of the p-oligophenylene bridges. Planarization of the bridge endorses an increased charge delocalization and a prominent CT character in the relaxed ES and forms the origin for the evident fast CS at the longest distance. Thus, the relaxation of the hot ES and the concomitantly enhanced charge delocalization adds a new caveat to the classic nature of distance-dependent CS in artificial DBA chromophores and recommends a cautious treatment of the attenuation factor (β) while discussing anomalous CS trends.

Project description:The addition of two electrons and two protons to the C17=C18 bond in protochlorophyllide is catalyzed by a light-dependent enzyme relying on NADPH as electron donor, and by a light-independent enzyme bearing a (Cys)3Asp-ligated [4Fe-4S] cluster which is reduced by cytoplasmic electron donors in an ATP-dependent manner and then functions as electron donor to protochlorophyllide. The precise sequence of events occurring at the C17=C18 bond has not, however, been determined experimentally in the dark-operating enzyme. In this paper, we present the computational investigation of the reaction mechanism of this enzyme at the B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. The reaction mechanism begins with single-electron reduction of the substrate by the (Cys)3Asp-ligated [4Fe-4S], yielding a negatively-charged intermediate. Depending on the rate of Fe-S cluster re-reduction, the reaction either proceeds through double protonation of the single-electron-reduced substrate, or by alternating proton/electron transfer. The computed reaction barriers suggest that Fe-S cluster re-reduction should be the rate-limiting stage of the process. Poisson-Boltzmann computations on the full enzyme-substrate complex, followed by Monte Carlo simulations of redox and protonation titrations revealed a hitherto unsuspected pH-dependence of the reaction potential of the Fe-S cluster. Furthermore, the computed distributions of protonation states of the His, Asp and Glu residues were used in conjuntion with single-point ONIOM computations to obtain, for the first time, the influence of all protonation states of an enzyme on the reaction it catalyzes. Despite exaggerating the ease of reduction of the substrate, these computations confirmed the broad features of the reaction mechanism obtained with the medium-sized models, and afforded valuable insights on the influence of the titratable amino acids on each reaction step. Additional comparisons of the energetic features of the reaction intermediates with those of common biochemical redox intermediates suggest a surprisingly simple explanation for the mechanistic differences between the dark-catalyzed and light-dependent enzyme reaction mechanisms.

Dataset Information

Excited-state charge separation in the photochemical mechanism of the light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase.

Publications

Excited-state charge separation in the photochemical mechanism of the light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase.

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