Signal transduction in light-oxygen-voltage receptors lacking the active-site glutamine

In nature as in biotechnology, light-oxygen-voltage photoreceptors perceive blue light to elicit spatiotemporally defined cellular responses. Photon absorption drives thioadduct formation between a conserved cysteine and the flavin chromophore. An equally conserved, proximal glutamine processes the resultant flavin protonation into downstream hydrogen-bond rearrangements. Here, we report that this glutamine, long deemed essential, is generally dispensable. In its absence, several light-oxygen-voltage receptors invariably retained productive, if often attenuated, signaling responses. Structures of a light-oxygen-voltage paradigm at around 1 Å resolution revealed highly similar light-induced conformational changes, irrespective of whether the glutamine is present. Naturally occurring, glutamine-deficient light-oxygen-voltage receptors likely serve as bona fide photoreceptors, as we showcase for a diguanylate cyclase. We propose that without the glutamine, water molecules transiently approach the chromophore and thus propagate flavin protonation downstream. Signaling without glutamine appears intrinsic to light-oxygen-voltage receptors, which pertains to biotechnological applications and suggests evolutionary descendance from redox-active flavoproteins

Erratum

Volume: 81Start Page: 415End Page: 41

Nitric Oxide-Induced Conformational Changes in Soluble Guanylate Cyclase

Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) is the primary mediator of nitric oxide (NO) signaling. NO binds the sGC heme cofactor stimulating synthesis of the second messenger cyclic-GMP (cGMP). As the central hub of NO/cGMP signaling pathways, sGC is important in diverse physiological processes such as vasodilation and neurotransmission. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying NO-induced cyclase activation in sGC remain unclear. Here, hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) was employed to probe the NO-induced conformational changes of sGC. HDX-MS revealed NO-induced effects in several discrete regions. NO binding to the heme-NO/O(2)-binding (H-NOX) domain perturbs a signaling surface implicated in Per/Arnt/Sim (PAS) domain interactions. Furthermore, NO elicits striking conformational changes in the junction between the PAS and helical domains that propagate as perturbations throughout the adjoining helices. Ultimately, NO-binding stimulates the catalytic domain by contracting the active site pocket. Together, these conformational changes delineate an allosteric pathway linking NO-binding to activation of the catalytic domain