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Updated: Apr 15, 2026

Proton Transfer and Protein Conformation Dynamics in Photosensitive Proteins by Time-resolved Step-scan Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy
Published on: June 27, 2014
Photochemical chromophore isomerization in histidine kinase rhodopsin HKR1
Meike Luck1, Sara Bruun2, Anke Keidel2
1Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Biologie, Experimentelle Biophysik, Invalidenstr. 42, D-10115 Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
Histidine kinase rhodopsin 1 is a photoreceptor in green algae functioning as a UV-light sensor. It switches between a UV-absorbing state (Rh-UV) and a blue-absorbing state (Rh-Bl) with a protonated retinal Schiff base (RSB) cofactor in a mixture of 13-trans,15-anti and 13-cis,15-syn isomers. The present spectroscopic study now shows that cofactor-protein assembly stabilizes the protonated 13-trans,15-anti RSB isomer. Formation of the active photoswitch requires the photoinduced conversion to Rh-UV. The transitions between the Rh-Bl isomers and the deprotonated 13-cis,15-anti and 13-trans,15-syn isomers of Rh-UV proceed via multiple photoisomerizations of one or simultaneously two double bonds.
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