Issue 26, 2015

Impacts of retinal polyene (de)methylation on the photoisomerization mechanism and photon energy storage of rhodopsin

Abstract

Ab initio multiconfigurational quantum chemical methodology combined with molecular mechanics (CASPT2//CASSCF/AMBER) was applied to probe impacts of retinal protonated Schiff base (RPSB) polyene methylation and/or demethylation on the mechanism of photochemical isomerization in bovine rhodopsin. We have examined structural and spectroscopic properties of wild-type rhodopsin (with 11-cis-9,13-dimethyl-RPSB) and artificial rhodopsins, hosting four 11-cis-RPSB derivatives, 13-demethyl-, 9-demethyl-, 10-methyl-13-demethyl-, and 10-methyl-RPSB, evolving along the photoisomerization coordinate. It is found that the addition of 10-methyl or/and deletion of 9-/13-methyl groups do not appear to interfere structurally with the photoisomerization pathway in the S1 excited state. Remarkably, the two-mode space-saving mechanism initiated by bond order inversion and followed by asynchronous bicycle-pedal distortion in the RPSB backbone drives the photoreaction in all rhodopsin analogues studied here. However, methylation and/or demethylation is responsible for perturbation of excess energy deposited in the conical intersection structures. The analysis of photon energy stored by bathorhodopsin in synthetic pigments reveals that it is affected by steric crowding of methyl substituents in the RPSB backbone.

Graphical abstract: Impacts of retinal polyene (de)methylation on the photoisomerization mechanism and photon energy storage of rhodopsin

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 Apr 2015
Accepted
19 May 2015
First published
26 May 2015

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2015,17, 17169-17181

Impacts of retinal polyene (de)methylation on the photoisomerization mechanism and photon energy storage of rhodopsin

E. Walczak and T. Andruniów, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2015, 17, 17169 DOI: 10.1039/C5CP01939G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements