Primary and Secondary Photodynamics of the Violet/Orange Dual-Cysteine NpF2164g3 Cyanobacteriochrome Domain from <i>Nostoc punctiforme</i>

Abstract

Cyanobacteriochromes (CBCRs) are cyanobacterial photoreceptors distantly related to phytochromes. Like phytochromes, CBCRs photointerconvert between two photostates that accompany photoisomerization of their bilin chromophores. While phytochromes typically exhibit red/far-red photocycles, CBCR photocycles are much more diverse, spanning the near-ultraviolet and the entire visible region. All CBCRs described to date have a conserved Cys residue covalently attached to the linear tetrapyrrole (bilin) chromophore; two CBCR subfamilies also exploit a second thioether linkage to the chromophore for detection of near-ultraviolet to blue light. Here, we present the photodynamic analysis of the insert-Cys CBCR NpF2164g3, a representative of the second class of two-cysteine CBCRs. Using broadband transient absorption pump–probe spectroscopy, we characterize the primary (100 fs to 10 ns) and secondary (10 ns to 1 ms) photodynamics in both directions, examining photodynamics over nine decades of time. Primary isomerization dynamics occur on a ∼10 ps time scale for both forward and reverse reactions. In contrast to previous studies on Tlr0924, a representative of the other class of two-cysteine CBCRs, formation and elimination of the second linkage are slower than the 1 ms experimental range probed here. These results extend our understanding of dual-cysteine CBCR photocycles in the phytochrome superfamily