scholarly journals Microsecond and millisecond dynamics in the photosynthetic protein LHCSR1 observed by single-molecule correlation spectroscopy

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (23) ◽  
pp. 11247-11252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toru Kondo ◽  
Jesse B. Gordon ◽  
Alberta Pinnola ◽  
Luca Dall’Osto ◽  
Roberto Bassi ◽  
...  

Biological systems are subjected to continuous environmental fluctuations, and therefore, flexibility in the structure and function of their protein building blocks is essential for survival. Protein dynamics are often local conformational changes, which allows multiple dynamical processes to occur simultaneously and rapidly in individual proteins. Experiments often average over these dynamics and their multiplicity, preventing identification of the molecular origin and impact on biological function. Green plants survive under high light by quenching excess energy, and Light-Harvesting Complex Stress Related 1 (LHCSR1) is the protein responsible for quenching in moss. Here, we expand an analysis of the correlation function of the fluorescence lifetime by improving the estimation of the lifetime states and by developing a multicomponent model correlation function, and we apply this analysis at the single-molecule level. Through these advances, we resolve previously hidden rapid dynamics, including multiple parallel processes. By applying this technique to LHCSR1, we identify and quantitate parallel dynamics on hundreds of microseconds and tens of milliseconds timescales, likely at two quenching sites within the protein. These sites are individually controlled in response to fluctuations in sunlight, which provides robust regulation of the light-harvesting machinery. Considering our results in combination with previous structural, spectroscopic, and computational data, we propose specific pigments that serve as the quenching sites. These findings, therefore, provide a mechanistic basis for quenching, illustrating the ability of this method to uncover protein function.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julianne M. Troiano ◽  
Federico Perozeni ◽  
Raymundo Moya ◽  
Luca Zuliani ◽  
Kwangryul Baek ◽  
...  

AbstractUnder high light conditions, oxygenic photosynthetic organisms avoid photodamage by thermally dissipating excess absorbed energy, which is called non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). In green algae, a chlorophyll and carotenoid-binding protein, light-harvesting complex stress-related (LHCSR3), detects excess energy via pH and serves as a quenching site. However, the mechanisms by which LHCSR3 functions have not been determined. Using a combined in vivo and in vitro approach, we identify two parallel yet distinct quenching processes, individually controlled by pH and carotenoid composition, and their likely molecular origin within LHCSR3 from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The pH-controlled quenching is removed within a mutant LHCSR3 that lacks the protonable residues responsible for sensing pH. Constitutive quenching in zeaxanthin-enriched systems demonstrates zeaxanthin-controlled quenching, which may be shared with other light-harvesting complexes. We show that both quenching processes prevent the formation of damaging reactive oxygen species, and thus provide distinct timescales and mechanisms of protection in a changing environment.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Guarnetti Prandi ◽  
Vladislav Sláma ◽  
Cristina Pecorilla ◽  
Lorenzo Cupellini ◽  
Benedetta Mennucci

Light-harvesting complexes (LHCs) are pigment-protein complexes whose main function is to capture sunlight and transfer the energy to reaction centers of photosystems. In response to varying light conditions, LH complexes also play photoregulation and photoprotection roles. In algae and mosses, a sub-family of LHCs, Light-Harvesting complex stress related (LHCSR), is responsible for photoprotective quenching. Despite their functional and evolutionary importance, no direct structural information on LHCSRs is available that can explain their unique properties. In this work we propose a structural model of LHCSR1 from the moss P. Patens, obtained through an integrated computational strategy that combines homology modeling, molecular dynamics, and multiscale quantum chemical calculations. The model is validated by reproducing the spectral properties of LHCSR1. Our model reveals the structural specificity of LHCSR1, as compared with the CP29 LH complex, and poses the basis for understanding photoprotective quenching in mosses.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (35) ◽  
pp. 21328-21335
Author(s):  
Zhijie Chen ◽  
Alan Shaw ◽  
Hugh Wilson ◽  
Maxime Woringer ◽  
Xavier Darzacq ◽  
...  

Theoretical and experimental observations that catalysis enhances the diffusion of enzymes have generated exciting implications about nanoscale energy flow, molecular chemotaxis, and self-powered nanomachines. However, contradictory claims on the origin, magnitude, and consequence of this phenomenon continue to arise. To date, experimental observations of catalysis-enhanced enzyme diffusion have relied almost exclusively on fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), a technique that provides only indirect, ensemble-averaged measurements of diffusion behavior. Here, using an anti-Brownian electrokinetic (ABEL) trap and in-solution single-particle tracking, we show that catalysis does not increase the diffusion of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) at the single-molecule level, in sharp contrast to the ∼20% enhancement seen in parallel FCS experiments usingp-nitrophenyl phosphate (pNPP) as substrate. Combining comprehensive FCS controls, ABEL trap, surface-based single-molecule fluorescence, and Monte Carlo simulations, we establish thatpNPP-induced dye blinking at the ∼10-ms timescale is responsible for the apparent diffusion enhancement seen in FCS. Our observations urge a crucial revisit of various experimental findings and theoretical models––including those of our own––in the field, and indicate that in-solution single-particle tracking and ABEL trap are more reliable means to investigate diffusion phenomena at the nanoscale.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 3213-3227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberta Pinnola ◽  
Stefano Cazzaniga ◽  
Alessandro Alboresi ◽  
Reinat Nevo ◽  
Smadar Levin-Zaidman ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sichen Pan ◽  
Chen Yang ◽  
Xin Sheng Zhao

Abstract Outer membrane proteins (OMPs) are essential to gram-negative bacteria, and molecular chaperones prevent the OMPs from aggregation in the periplasm during the OMPs biogenesis. Skp is one of the molecular chaperones for this purpose. Here, we combined single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to study the affinity and stoichiometric ratio of Skp in its binding with OmpC at the single-molecule level. The half concentration of the Skp self-trimerization (C1/2) was measured to be (2.5 ± 0.7) × 102 nM. Under an Skp concentration far below the C1/2, OmpC could recruit Skp monomers to form OmpC·Skp3. The affinity to form the OmpC·Skp3 complex was determined to be (5.5 ± 0.4) × 102 pM with a Hill coefficient of 1.6 ± 0.2. Under the micromolar concentrations of Skp, the formation of OmpC·(Skp3)2 was confirmed, and the dissociation constant of OmpC·(Skp3)2 was determined to be 1.2 ± 0.4 μM. The precise information will help us to quantitatively depict the role of Skp in the biogenesis of OMPs.


Pteridines ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 147-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Demel ◽  
Z. Foldes-Papp ◽  
D. Fuchs ◽  
G. P. Tilz

Abstract In the present investigation, fluorescence con-elation spectroscopy (FCS) was used to measure the molecular motion of the pteridine derivative neopterin. However, technical limitations in the present optical setup precluded the identification of ,single neopterin molecules. FCS measurements with a fluorophore were also can-ied out for comparison. Exemplified by rhodamine green, we have introduced a concept that allows the detection, identification and analysis of assays in solution at the single-molecule level in tenns of bulk concentration. This concept is based on FCS and Poisson distribution analysis of assay sensitivity. The molecules had not to be quantified in a more concentrated fonn, or in flow and trapping experiments. The study demonstrated an ultrasensitive, reliable, rapid and direct tool for analytics and diagnostics in solution. We discuss a possible application of our new concept in activation control of cell-mediated immunity via neopterin determination.


2010 ◽  
Vol 107 (42) ◽  
pp. 18214-18219 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Bailleul ◽  
A. Rogato ◽  
A. de Martino ◽  
S. Coesel ◽  
P. Cardol ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Minjung Son ◽  
Alberta Pinnola ◽  
Samuel C. Gordon ◽  
Roberto Bassi ◽  
Gabriela S. Schlau-Cohen

<pre><p><a></a>Green plants prevent photodamage under high light conditions by dissipating excess energy as heat. Conformational changes of the photosynthetic antenna complexes activate dissipation by leveraging the sensitivity of the photophysics of the chlorophyll and carotenoids to their surrounding protein. However, the mechanisms and site of dissipation are still debated, largely due to two challenges. First, because of the ultrafast timescales and large energy gaps involved, measurements lacked the temporal or spectral requirements. Second, experiments have been performed in detergent, which can induce non-native conformations, or <i>in vivo</i>, where contributions from the multiple complexes cannot be disentangled and are further obfuscated by laser-induced artifacts. Here, we overcome both challenges by applying ultrabroadband two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy to the principal antenna complex, light-harvesting complex II, in a near-native membrane. The membrane enhances two dissipative pathways, one of which was previously uncharacterized chlorophyll-to-carotenoid energy transfer. Our results highlight the sensitivity of the photophysics to the local environment, which may be used to control the balance between light harvesting and dissipation <i>in vivo</i>.</p></pre>


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guanzhong Ma ◽  
Hao Zhu ◽  
Zijian Wan ◽  
Yunze Yang ◽  
Shaopeng Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractProtein analysis has relied on electrophoresis, mass spectroscopy and immunoassay, which separate, detect and identify proteins based on the size, charge, mobility and binding to antibodies. However, measuring these quantities at the single molecule level has not been possible. We tether a protein to a surface with a flexible polymer, drive the protein into mechanical oscillation with an alternating electric field, and image the protein oscillation with a near field imaging method, from which we determine the size, charge, mobility of the protein. We also measure binding of antibodies to single proteins and ligand binding-induced conformational changes in single proteins. This work provides new capabilities for protein analysis and disease biomarker detection at the single molecule level.


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