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Mechanistic reappraisal of early stage photochemistry in the light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase.

ABSTRACT: The light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR) catalyzes the reduction of protochlorophyllide (Pchlide) to chlorophyllide (Chlide). This reaction is a key step in the biosynthesis of chlorophyll. Ultrafast photochemical processes within the Pchlide molecule are required for catalysis and previous studies have suggested that a short-lived excited-state species, known as I675*, is the first catalytic intermediate in the reaction and is essential for capturing excitation energy to drive subsequent hydride and proton transfers. The chemical nature of the I675* excited state species and its role in catalysis are not known. Here, we report time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy measurements to study the involvement of the I675* intermediate in POR photochemistry. We show that I675* is not unique to the POR-catalyzed photoreduction of Pchlide as it is also formed in the absence of the POR enzyme. The I675* species is only produced in samples that contain both Pchlide substrate and Chlide product and its formation is dependent on the pump excitation wavelength. The rate of formation and the quantum yield is maximized in 50?50 mixtures of the two pigments (Pchlide and Chlide) and is caused by direct energy transfer between Pchlide and neighboring Chlide molecules, which is inhibited in the polar solvent methanol. Consequently, we have re-evaluated the mechanism for early stage photochemistry in the light-driven reduction of Pchlide and propose that I675* represents an excited state species formed in Pchlide-Chlide dimers, possibly an excimer. Contrary to previous reports, we conclude that this excited state species has no direct mechanistic relevance to the POR-catalyzed reduction of Pchlide.

SUBMITTER: Heyes DJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3458894 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mechanistic reappraisal of early stage photochemistry in the light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase.

Heyes Derren J DJ Hardman Samantha J O SJ Mansell David D Gardiner John M JM Scrutton Nigel S NS

PloS one 20120926 9

The light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR) catalyzes the reduction of protochlorophyllide (Pchlide) to chlorophyllide (Chlide). This reaction is a key step in the biosynthesis of chlorophyll. Ultrafast photochemical processes within the Pchlide molecule are required for catalysis and previous studies have suggested that a short-lived excited-state species, known as I675*, is the first catalytic intermediate in the reaction and is essential for capturing excitation energy to ...[more]

PMID: 23049830

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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

Mechanistic reappraisal of early stage photochemistry in the light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase.

Publications

Mechanistic reappraisal of early stage photochemistry in the light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase.

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