FTIR studies of the photoactivation processes in squid retinochrome

Retinochrome is a photoisomerase of the invertebrate visual system, which converts all-trans-retinal to the 11-cis configuration and supplies it to visual rhodopsin. In this paper, we studied light-induced structural changes in squid retinochrome by means of low-temperature UV-visible and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. In PC liposomes, lumi-retinochrome was stable in the wide temperature range between 77 and 230 K. High thermal stability of the primary intermediate in retinochrome is in contrast to the case in rhodopsins. FTIR spectroscopy suggested that the chromophore of lumi-retinochrome is in a relaxed planar 11-cis form, being consistent with its high thermal stability. The chromophore binding pocket of retinochrome appears to accommodate both all-trans and 11-cis forms without a large distortion, and limited protein structural changes between all-trans and 11-cis chromophores may be suitable for the function of retinochrome as a photoisomerase. The analysis of N-D and O-D stretching vibrations in D(2)O revealed that the hydrogen bond of the Schiff base is weaker in retinochrome than in bovine rhodopsin and bacteriorhodopsin, while retinochrome has a water molecule under strongly hydrogen-bonded conditions (O-D stretch at 2334 cm(-)(1)). The hydrogen bond of the water is further strengthened in lumi-retinochrome. The formation of meta-retinochrome accompanies deprotonation of the Schiff base, together with the peptide backbone alterations of alpha-helices, and possible formation of beta-sheets. It was found that the Schiff base proton is not transferred to its counterion, Glu181, but directly released to the aqueous phase in PC liposomes (pH 7.5). This suggests that the Schiff base environment is exposed to solvent in meta-retinochrome, which may be advantageous for the hydrolysis reaction of the Schiff base in the transport of 11-cis-retinal to its shuttle protein.