Redox-active tyrosine residues: role for the peptide bond in electron transfer

Photosystem II (PSII) catalyzes the light-driven oxidation of water and reduction of plastoquinone. In PSII, redox-active tyrosine Z conducts electrons between the primary chlorophyll donor and the manganese cluster, which is the catalytic site. In this report, difference FT-IR spectroscopy is used to show that oxidation of redox-active tyrosine Z causes perturbations of the peptide bond. PSII data were acquired on control samples, as well as samples in which tyrosine was 2H4 (ring)-labeled. Comparison to model compound data, acquired both from tyrosinate and its 2H4 isotopomer, was performed. The PSII FT-IR spectrum exhibited vibrational bands that are assignable to imide and amide vibrational modes. In previous work, we have shown that oxidation of tyrosinate perturbs the terminal amino group of tyrosinate (Ayala, I.; Range, K.; York, D.; Barry, B. A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 5496-5505). Density functional calculations on tyrosinate supported the interpretation that the perturbation is due to spin delocalization onto the amino group. In tyrosine-containing dipeptides, perturbations of the peptide bond were observed. Therefore, the imide and amide perturbations observed here are attributed to spin delocalization into the peptide bond in PSII. Migration of the electron hole in PSII may be consistent with peptide bond involvement in tyrosyl radical-based electron-transfer reactions.