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Klaus Brettel - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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light induced electron transfer in arabidopsis cryptochrome 1 correlates with in vivo function
Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2005Co-Authors: Anke Zeugner, Nadia Bakrim, Baldissera Giovani, Martin Byrdin, Klaus Brettel, Jean-pierre Bouly, Margaret AhmadAbstract:Abstract Cryptochromes are blue light-activated photoreceptors found in multiple organisms with significant similarity to photolyases, a class of light-dependent DNA repair enzymes. Unlike photolyases, cryptochromes do not repair DNA and instead mediate blue light-dependent developmental, growth, and/or circadian responses by an as yet unknown mechanism of action. It has recently been shown that Arabidopsis cryptochrome-1 retains photolyase-like photoreduction of its flavin cofactor FAD by intraprotein electron transfer from tryptophan and tyrosine residues. Here we demonstrate that substitution of two conserved tryptophans that are constituents of the flavin-reducing electron transfer chain in Escherichia coli photolyase impairs light-induced electron transfer in the Arabidopsis cryptochrome-1 photoreceptor in vitro. Furthermore, we show that these substitutions result in marked reduction of light-activated autophosphorylation of cryptochrome-1 in vitro and of its photoreceptor function in vivo, consistent with biological relevance of the electron transfer reaction. These data support the possibility that light-induced flavin reduction via the tryptophan chain is the primary step in the signaling pathway of plant cryptochrome.
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dissection of the triple tryptophan electron transfer chain in escherichia coli dna photolyase trp382 is the primary donor in photoactivation
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2003Co-Authors: Martin Byrdin, Andre P M Eker, Marten H Vos, Klaus BrettelAbstract:In Escherichia coli photolyase, excitation of the FAD cofactor in its semireduced radical state (FADH*) induces an electron transfer over approximately 15 A from tryptophan W306 to the flavin. It has been suggested that two additional tryptophans are involved in an electron transfer chain FADH* <-- W382 <-- W359 <-- W306. To test this hypothesis, we have mutated W382 into redox inert phenylalanine. Ultrafast transient absorption studies showed that, in WT photolyase, excited FADH* decayed with a time constant tau approximately 26 ps to fully reduced flavin and a tryptophan cation radical. In W382F mutant photolyase, the excited flavin was much longer lived (tau approximately 80 ps), and no significant amount of product was detected. We conclude that, in WT photolyase, excited FADH* is quenched by electron transfer from W382. On a millisecond scale, a product state with extremely low yield ( approximately 0.5% of WT) was detected in W382F mutant photolyase. Its spectral and kinetic features were similar to the fully reduced flavin/neutral tryptophan radical state in WT photolyase. We suggest that, in W382F mutant photolyase, excited FADH* is reduced by W359 at a rate that competes only poorly with the intrinsic decay of excited FADH* (tau approximately 80 ps), explaining the low product yield. Subsequently, the W359 cation radical is reduced by W306. The rate constants of electron transfer from W382 to excited FADH* in WT and from W359 to excited FADH* in W382F mutant photolyase were estimated and related to the donor-acceptor distances.
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intraprotein radical transfer during photoactivation of dna photolyase
Nature, 2000Co-Authors: Corinne Aubert, Paul Mathis, Andre P M Eker, Klaus BrettelAbstract:Amino-acid radicals play key roles in many enzymatic reactions1. Catalysis often involves transfer of a radical character within the protein, as in class I ribonucleotide reductase where radical transfer occurs over 35 A, from a tyrosyl radical to a cysteine1,2,3. It is currently debated whether this kind of long-range transfer occurs by electron transfer, followed by proton release to create a neutral radical, or by H-atom transfer, that is, simultaneous transfer of electrons and protons4,5,6,7. The latter mechanism avoids the energetic cost of charge formation in the low dielectric protein4,5, but it is less robust to structural changes than is electron transfer7. Available experimental data do not clearly discriminate between these proposals. We have studied the mechanism of photoactivation (light-induced reduction of the flavin adenine dinucleotide cofactor) of Escherichia coli DNA photolyase8,9,10 using time-resolved absorption spectroscopy. Here we show that the excited flavin adenine dinucleotide radical abstracts an electron from a nearby tryptophan in 30 ps. After subsequent electron transfer along a chain of three tryptophans, the most remote tryptophan (as a cation radical) releases a proton to the solvent in about 300 ns, showing that electron transfer occurs before proton dissociation. A similar process may take place in photolyase-like blue-light receptors.
Amitabha Chattopadhyay - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Exploring tryptophan dynamics in acid-induced molten globule state of bovine α-lactalbumin: a wavelength-selective fluorescence approach
European Biophysics Journal, 2010Co-Authors: Devaki A. Kelkar, Arunima Chaudhuri, Sourav Haldar, Amitabha ChattopadhyayAbstract:The relevance of partially ordered states of proteins (such as the molten globule state) in cellular processes is beginning to be understood. Bovine α-lactalbumin (BLA) assumes the molten globule state at acidic pH. We monitored the organization and dynamics of the functionally important tryptophan residues of BLA in native and molten globule states utilizing the wavelength-selective fluorescence approach and fluorescence quenching. Quenching of BLA tryptophan fluorescence using quenchers of varying polarity (acrylamide and trichloroethanol) reveals varying degrees of accessibility of tryptophan residues, characteristic of native and molten globule states. We observed red edge excitation shift (REES) of 6 nm for the tryptophans in native BLA. Interestingly, we show here that BLA tryptophans exhibit REES (3 nm) in the molten globule state. These results constitute one of the early reports of REES in the molten globule state of proteins. Taken together, our results indicate that tryptophan residues in BLA in native as well as molten globule states experience motionally restricted environment and that the regions surrounding at least some of the BLA tryptophans offer considerable restriction to the reorientational motion of the water dipoles around the excited-state tryptophans. These results are supported by wavelength-dependent changes in fluorescence anisotropy and lifetime for BLA tryptophans. These results could provide vital insight into the role of tryptophans in the function of BLA in its molten globule state in particular, and other partially ordered proteins in general.
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Approach
2005Co-Authors: Spectrin A Fluorescence, Devaki A. Kelkar, Amitabha Chattopadhyay, Abhijit Chakrabarti, Malyasri BhattacharyyaAbstract:Abstract: The ionic strength of the medium plays an important role in the structure and confor-mation of erythroid spectrin. The spectrin dimer is a flexible rod at physiological ionic strength. However, lower ionic strength results in elongation and rigidification (stiffening) of spectrin as shown earlier by electron microscopy and hydrodynamic studies. The ionic strength induced structural transition does not involve any specific secondary structural changes. In this article, we have used a combination of fluorescence spectroscopic approaches that include red edge excitation shift (REES), fluorescence quenching, time-resolved fluorescence measurements, and chemical modification of the spectrin tryptophans to assess the environment and dynamics of tryptophan residues of spectrin under different ionic strength conditions. Our results show that while REES, fluorescence anisotropy, lifetime, and chemical modification of spectrin tryptophans remain unal-tered in low and high ionic strength conditions, quenching of tryptophan fluorescence by the aqueous quencher acrylamide (but not the hydrophobic quencher trichloroethanol) and resonance energy transfer to a dansyl-labeled fatty acid show differences in tryptophan environment. These results, which report tertiary structural changes in spectrin upon change in ionic strength, are relevant in understanding the molecular details underlying the conformational flexibility o
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monitoring gramicidin conformations in membranes a fluorescence approach
Biophysical Journal, 2004Co-Authors: Satinder S Rawat, Devaki A. Kelkar, Amitabha ChattopadhyayAbstract:We have monitored the membrane-bound channel and nonchannel conformations of gramicidin utilizing red-edge excitation shift (REES), and related fluorescence parameters. In particular, we have used fluorescence lifetime, polarization, quenching, chemical modification, and membrane penetration depth analysis in addition to REES measurements to distinguish these two conformations. Our results show that REES of gramicidin tryptophans can be effectively used to distinguish conformations of membrane-bound gramicidin. The interfacially localized tryptophans in the channel conformation display REES of 7 nm whereas the tryptophans in the nonchannel conformation exhibit REES of 2 nm which highlights the difference in their average environments in terms of localization in the membrane. This is supported by tryptophan penetration depth measurements using the parallax method and fluorescence lifetime and polarization measurements. Further differences in the average tryptophan microenvironments in the two conformations are brought out by fluorescence quenching experiments using acrylamide and chemical modification of the tryptophans by N-bromosuccinimide. In summary, we report novel fluorescence-based approaches to monitor conformations of this important ion channel peptide. Our results offer vital information on the organization and dynamics of the functionally important tryptophan residues in gramicidin.
Peter Nikolov - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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steady state and time resolved fluorescence of esperase comparison with the x ray structure in the region of the two tryptophans
Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 1998Co-Authors: Dessislava Georgieva, Peter NikolovAbstract:Abstract Fluorescence emission properties of the alkaline protease Esperase® have been investigated using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The local polarity and solvent accessibility of the tryptophyl chromophores is characterized. Quenching studies demonstrated that Trp 6 and Trp 113 are ‘buried’ to acrylamide, iodide ions and caesium ions. An abnormally low tryptophan quantum yield was calculated showing that the emission of the two indole rings is significantly quenched by nearby side chains or peptide bonds. The fluorescence decay of PMS-Esperase® was well fitted by two exponentials with lifetimes of 2.7 and 0.35 ns. X-ray data for Esperase® (S. Klupsch, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany) in the region of the two tryptophans were used to explain the observed emission properties. Gln 182 and Asn 204 as well as Asn 117 and Met 119 are the most likely quenchers, respectively, of the Trp 6 and Trp 113 fluorescence. The two tryptophans in Esperase® are ‘buried’ in hydrophobic regions and are excellent intrinsic probes to study folding-unfolding reactions. Experiments in the presence and absence of added calcium ions demonstrated the stabilizing role of the Ca2+-binding sites.
Feroz Khan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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steady state and time resolved fluorescence quenching and chemical modification studies of a lectin from endophytic fungus fusarium solani
Journal of Fluorescence, 2010Co-Authors: Feroz Khan, Absar Ahmad, Islam M KhanAbstract:The solute quenching studies of a lectin from endophytic fungus Fusarium solani were carried out using different quenchers such as acrylamide, succinimide, potassium iodide and cesium chloride. The lectin showed emission maximum at 348 nm indicating relative exposure of tryptophan. The quenchable fraction of the fluorophore was 100% with acrylamide, whereas it was only 50% with succinimide. The ionic quenchers iodide and cesium showed opposite effects at different pH. In the case of cesium, raising the pH resulted in increased quenching and accessibility of typtophan residue, while the iodide showed just opposite effect. These studies showed that the single tryptophan residue of the lectin (per monomer) is relatively exposed, and might be in the vicinity of positively charged amino acid residues. Various amino acids of the F. solani lectin were modified using different reagents to obtain information about the hemagglutinating site. The chemical modification studies suggested tyrosine residues can be modified using N-acetylimidazole, which results in complete loss of hemagglutination activity of the lectin. Kinetics of chemical modification suggested involvement of only 2 tyrosine residues. Modification of arginine, cysteine, histidine, lysine, aspartate, glutamate and tryptophan did not result in loss of hemagglutinating activity of the lectin.
Islam M Khan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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steady state and time resolved fluorescence quenching and chemical modification studies of a lectin from endophytic fungus fusarium solani
Journal of Fluorescence, 2010Co-Authors: Feroz Khan, Absar Ahmad, Islam M KhanAbstract:The solute quenching studies of a lectin from endophytic fungus Fusarium solani were carried out using different quenchers such as acrylamide, succinimide, potassium iodide and cesium chloride. The lectin showed emission maximum at 348 nm indicating relative exposure of tryptophan. The quenchable fraction of the fluorophore was 100% with acrylamide, whereas it was only 50% with succinimide. The ionic quenchers iodide and cesium showed opposite effects at different pH. In the case of cesium, raising the pH resulted in increased quenching and accessibility of typtophan residue, while the iodide showed just opposite effect. These studies showed that the single tryptophan residue of the lectin (per monomer) is relatively exposed, and might be in the vicinity of positively charged amino acid residues. Various amino acids of the F. solani lectin were modified using different reagents to obtain information about the hemagglutinating site. The chemical modification studies suggested tyrosine residues can be modified using N-acetylimidazole, which results in complete loss of hemagglutination activity of the lectin. Kinetics of chemical modification suggested involvement of only 2 tyrosine residues. Modification of arginine, cysteine, histidine, lysine, aspartate, glutamate and tryptophan did not result in loss of hemagglutinating activity of the lectin.
