Unusual shift in the visible absorption spectrum of an active ctenophore photoprotein elucidated by time‑dependent density functional theory

Active hydromedusan and ctenophore Ca2+-regulated photoproteins form complexes consisting of apoprotein and strongly non-covalently bound 2-hydroperoxycoelenterazine (an oxygenated intermediate of coelenterazine). Whereas the absorption maximum of hydromedusan photoproteins is at 460–470 nm, ctenophore photoproteins absorb at 437 nm. Finding out a physical reason for this blue shift is the main objective of this work, and, to achieve it, the whole structure of the protein–substrate complex was optimized using a linear scaling quantum–mechanical method. Electronic excitations pertinent to the spectra of the 2-hydroperoxy adduct of coelenterazine were simulated with time-dependent density functional theory. The dihedral angle of 60° of the 6-(p-hydroxy)-phenyl group relative to the imidazopyrazinone core of 2-hydroperoxycoelenterazine molecule was found to be the key factor determining the absorption of ctenophore photoproteins at 437 nm. The residues relevant to binding of the substrate and its adopting the particular rotation were also identified

Picosecond Fluorescence Relaxation Spectroscopy of the Calcium-Discharged Photoproteins Aequorin and Obelin

Addition of calcium ions to the Ca2+-regulated photoproteins, such as aequorin and obelin, produces a blue bioluminescence originating from a fluorescence transition of the protein-bound product, coelenteramide. The kinetics of several transient fluorescent species of the bound coelenteramide is resolved after picosecond-laser excitation and streak camera detection. The initially formed spectral distributions at picosecond-times are broad, evidently comprised of two contributions, one at higher energy (25000 cm-1) assigned as from the Ca2+-discharged photoprotein-bound coelenteramide in its neutral state. This component decays much more rapidly (t1/2 2 ps) in the case of the Ca2+-discharged obelin than aequorin (t1/2 30 ps). The second component at lower energy shows several intermediates in the 150-500 ps times, with a final species having spectral maxima 19400 cm-1, bound to Ca2+-discharged obelin, and 21300 cm-1, bound to Ca2+-discharged aequorin, and both have a fluorescence decay lifetime of 4 ns. It is proposed that the rapid kinetics of these fluorescence transients on the picosecond time scale, correspond to times for relaxation of the protein structural environment of the binding cavit

Crystal structure of obelin after Ca(2+)-triggered bioluminescence suggests neutral coelenteramide as the primary excited state

The crystal structure at 1.93-Å resolution is determined for the Ca(2+)-discharged obelin containing three bound calcium ions as well as the product of the bioluminescence reaction, coelenteramide. This finding extends the series of available spatial structures of the ligand-dependent conformations of the protein to four, the obelin itself, and those after the bioluminescence reaction with or without bound Ca(2+) and/or coelenteramide. Among these structures, global conformational changes are small, typical of the class of “calcium signal modulators” within the EF-hand protein superfamily. Nevertheless, in the active site there are significant repositions of two residues. The His-175 imidazole ring flips becoming almost perpendicular to the original orientation corroborating the crucial importance of this residue for triggering bioluminescence. Tyr-138 hydrogen bonded to the coelenterazine N1-atom in unreacted obelin is moved away from the binding cavity after reaction. However, this Tyr is displaced by a water molecule from within the cavity, which now forms a hydrogen bond to the same atom, the amide N of coelenteramide. From this observation, a reaction scheme is proposed that would result in the neutral coelenteramide as the primary excited state product in photoprotein bioluminescence. From such a higher energy state it is now energetically feasible to account for the shorter wavelength bioluminescence spectra obtained from some photoprotein mutants or to populate the lower energy state of the phenolate anion to yield the blue bioluminescence ordinarily observed from native photoproteins