Small-angle X-ray scattering study of the kinetics of light-dark transition in a LOV protein

PLoS One. 2018 Jul 16;13(7):e0200746. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200746. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Light, oxygen, voltage (LOV) photoreceptors consist of conserved photo-responsive domains in bacteria, archaea, plants and fungi, and detect blue-light via a flavin cofactor. We investigated the blue-light induced conformational transition of the dimeric photoreceptor PpSB1-LOV-R66I from Pseudomonas putida in solution by using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). SAXS experiments of the fully populated light- and dark-states under steady-state conditions revealed significant structural differences between the two states that are in agreement with the known structures determined by crystallography. We followed the transition from the light- to the dark-state by using SAXS measurements in real-time. A two-state model based on the light- and dark-state conformations could describe the measured time-course SAXS data with a relaxation time τREC of ~ 34 to 35 min being larger than the recovery time found with UV/vis spectroscopy. Unlike the flavin chromophore-based UV/vis method that is sensitive to the local chromophore environment in flavoproteins, SAXS-based assay depends on protein conformational changes and provides with an alternative to measure the recovery kinetics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Flavin Mononucleotide / chemistry
  • Flavoproteins / metabolism*
  • Kinetics
  • Oxygen / metabolism*
  • Photoreceptors, Microbial / metabolism*
  • Protein Domains
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Pseudomonas putida / metabolism*
  • Scattering, Small Angle*
  • Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Flavoproteins
  • Photoreceptors, Microbial
  • Flavin Mononucleotide
  • Oxygen

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Project OptoSys, FKZ 031A167B).