Structural insights into the mechanism of rhodopsin phosphodiesterase

Nat Commun. 2020 Nov 5;11(1):5605. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19376-7.

Abstract

Rhodopsin phosphodiesterase (Rh-PDE) is an enzyme rhodopsin belonging to a recently discovered class of microbial rhodopsins with light-dependent enzymatic activity. Rh-PDE consists of the N-terminal rhodopsin domain and C-terminal phosphodiesterase (PDE) domain, connected by 76-residue linker, and hydrolyzes both cAMP and cGMP in a light-dependent manner. Thus, Rh-PDE has potential for the optogenetic manipulation of cyclic nucleotide concentrations, as a complementary tool to rhodopsin guanylyl cyclase and photosensitive adenylyl cyclase. Here we present structural and functional analyses of the Rh-PDE derived from Salpingoeca rosetta. The crystal structure of the rhodopsin domain at 2.6 Å resolution revealed a new topology of rhodopsins, with 8 TMs including the N-terminal extra TM, TM0. Mutational analyses demonstrated that TM0 plays a crucial role in the enzymatic photoactivity. We further solved the crystal structures of the rhodopsin domain (3.5 Å) and PDE domain (2.1 Å) with their connecting linkers, which showed a rough sketch of the full-length Rh-PDE. Integrating these structures, we proposed a model of full-length Rh-PDE, based on the HS-AFM observations and computational modeling of the linker region. These findings provide insight into the photoactivation mechanisms of other 8-TM enzyme rhodopsins and expand the definition of rhodopsins.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Choanoflagellata / enzymology
  • Choanoflagellata / genetics
  • HEK293 Cells
  • Humans
  • Models, Molecular
  • Mutation
  • Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases / chemistry*
  • Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases / genetics
  • Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases / metabolism
  • Protein Domains
  • Rhodopsin
  • Rhodopsins, Microbial / chemistry*
  • Rhodopsins, Microbial / genetics
  • Rhodopsins, Microbial / metabolism
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Rhodopsins, Microbial
  • Rhodopsin
  • Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases