• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.305-307
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• 2002

Spectroscopic titration of D 193N and D 193E mutants of pharaonis phoborhodopsin (ppR) were performed to evaluate the pK$_{a}$ of the Schiff base Asp 193 corresponds to Glu204 of bacteriorhodopsin (bR). The pK$_{a}$ of the Schiff base (SBH$^{+}$) of D193N was 10.1~10.0 (at XH$^{+}$) and 11.4~11.6 (at X) depending on the protonation state of a certain residue (designated by X) and independent on CI$^{[-10]}$ , while those of the wild-type and D193E were> 12. pK$_{a}$ of XH$^{+}$ were; 11.8~11.2 at the state of SB, 10.5 at SBH$^{+}$ state in the presence of CI$^{[-10]}$ , and 9.6 at SBH$^{+}$ without CI$^{[-10]}$ These imply the presence of a long-range interaction in the extracellular channel.r channel.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.311-313
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• 2002

X-ray structures of pharaonis phoborhodopsin (ppR) show the different direction of the side chain of Arg72 from that of the corresponding residue (Arg82) of bacteriorhodopsin, BR. For BR, this residue is considered to play an important role in the proton pumping. In order to investigate the role of Arg72 in ppR, we constructed Arg72 mutants of R72A, R72K and R72Q, and measured the photocycle and proton pumping activities. The pH-titration curves on the absorption maximum of the mutants were shifted to alkaline in comparison of that of the wild-type. This may imply the increase of pKa of D75, suggesting the presence of the (probably electric) interaction between D75 and Arg72. Rate constants of the M-decay were 3-7 times faster than that of the wild-type, and the time for the completion of the photocycling was also reduced. Using Sn0$_2$ electrode, the rate of transmembrane proton transport was measured upon illumination. The photo-induced proton pumping activities were estimated after the corrections that are the percentages of the associated form of D75 (which has no pumping activity) and the photocycling rates. R72A and R72Q showed the reduced activity while R72K did not reduce the activity.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.308-310
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• 2002

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) and halorhodopsin (hR), which exist in the membrane of Halobacterium salinarum, are light-driven ion pumps. In spite of high similarity of primary and tertiary structures between bR and hR, these membrane proteins transport different ions, proton and chloride, in the opposite direction. From alignment of the amino acid sequences, Thr-89 of bR is homologous to Ser-l15 of hR from Halobacterium salinarum (shR). X-ray structure of shR has revealed that OH group of this residue directly interacts with CI$\^$-/ Thus, Ser-lI5 of shR is expected to play an important role in CI$\^$-/ binding and transport. In this study, we expressed wild type hR from Natronobacterium pharaonis (PhR) and Sl30A, which corresponds to Ser-l15 of shR, in E. coli in order to clarify binding affinity of chloride ion and photocycle reactions. From the titration with CI$\^$-/, affinity of Sl30A became quite lower than that of WT (WT 6 mM, Sl30A 89 mM). Furthermore, from the flash photolysis with pulse laser of λ$\_$max/ at 532 nm, the reaction rate of SI30A from 0 intermediate to hR ground state was found to become apparently slower than that of WT. The singular value decomposition (SVD) and global fitting analyses of the photocycles were performed to identify all photointermediates and determine the reaction rates.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.302-304
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• 2002

pharaonis phoborhodopsin (ppR), a photophobic sensor of haloalkaliphilic bacteria, Natronobacterium phar-aonis, has retinal as a chromophore covalently bound to Lys in G-helix via a protonated Schiff base (PSB), as is the same as bacteriorhodopsin (bR). For ppR, the corresponding counter-ion is Asp residue (Asp75) located in C-helix. Here we investigated the influence of the protonated state of this counter-ion and its location on the chromophore configuration. Under alkaline condition, the chromophore configuration of D75E mutant was analyzed by HPLC. D75E had a much larger content of 13-cis isomer: the ratio of 13-cis to all-trans was 6:4 while the wild-type had this ratio of 1 :9. On the other hand, under acidic condition where Glu was associated, D75E had no 13-cis retinal isomer. Mutants whose Asp75 was replaced by neutral amino acids (D75N and D75Q) did not contain 13-cis retinal. Furthermore, retinal isomer compositions and the change in the visible ab- sorption spectra (indicating the dissociation state of Glu75) were measured under varying pH, and these were almost the same dependencies. These results indicate that an important factor determining the 13-cis isomer content is the presence of negative charge of the counter-ion against PSB, but not the size of this residue. Com- parison between the wild-type and D75E in alkaline solutions indicates the influence of the location of the counter-ion.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.320-324
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• 1979

Purple membrane from Halobacterium halobium was incorporated into 7.5% polyacrylamide gels. Absorption and circular dichroic spectra of purple membrane incorporated with gels were obtained at various pH. The spectra of these gels measured at pH 7.0 were essentially identical with those obtained in the aqueous suspension of purple membrane. Acid titration of the gels showed the transition to a form absorbing at 605nm $(bR_{605}^{acid}$) at pH 2.6, and to a second form at 565nm $(bR_{565}^{acid})$ at pH 0.8. Dark-adapted gels showed an isosbestic point for each transition whereas light-adapted gels did not. Visible CD spectra of $bR_{570}^{LA},\;bR_{305}^{acid}\;and\;bR_{565}^{acid}$ all showed the typical bilobed pattern. CD spectra measured at UV wavelength region were also independent of the variation of pH in terms of molar ellipticity and spectral shape. The protonated species $bR_{605}^{acid}$ may be one of the intermediates formed during the normal photochemical cycle of purple membrane. Most probably, the species $bR_{605}^{acid}$ is considered to be $O^{640}$ in the cycle.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.138-145
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• 2007

Anabaena sensory rhodopsin is a seven transmembrane protein that uses all-trans/13-cis retinal as a chromophore. About 22 residues in the retinal-binding pocket of microbial rhodopsins are conserved and important to control the quality of absorbing light and the function of ion transport or sensory transduction. The absorption maximum is 550 nm in the presence of all-trans retinal at dark. Here, we mutated Pro206 to Glu or Asp, of which the residue is conserved as Asp among all other microbial rhodopsins, and the absorption maximum and pKa of the proton acceptor group were measured by absorption spectroscopy at various pHs. Anabaena rhodopsin was expressed best in Escherichia coli in the absence of extra leader sequence when exogenous all-trans retinal was added. The wild-type Anabaena rhodopsin showed small absorption maximum changes between pH4 and 11. In addition, Pro206Asp showed 46 nm blue-shift at pH7.0. Pro206Glu or Asp may change the contribution to the electron distribution of the retinal that is involved in the major role of color tuning for this pigment. The critical residue Ser86 (Asp 96 position in bacteriorhodopsin: proton donor) for the pumping activity was replaced with Asp, but it did not change the proton pumping activity of Anabaena rhodopsin.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.341-350
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• 2015

Skin carrys out protective role against harmful outer environment assaults including ultraviolet radiation, heavy metals and oxides. Especially, ultraviolet-B (UVB) light causes inflammatory reactions in skin such as sun burn and erythma and stimulates melanin pigmentation. Furthermore, the influx of UVB into skin cells causes DNA damage in keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts, inhibition of extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis which leads to a decrease in elasticity of skin and wrinkle formation. It also damages dermal connective tissue and disrupts the skin barrier function. Prolonged exposure of human skin to UVB light is well known to trigger severe skin lesions such as cell death and carcinogenesis. Haloarcula vallismortis is a halophilic microorganism isolated from the Dead Sea, Its growth characteristics have not been studied in detail yet. It generally grows at salinity more than 10%, but the actual growth salinity usually ranges between 20 to 25%. Because H. vallismortis is found mainly in saltern or salt lakes, there could exist defense mechanisms against strong sunlight. One of them is generation of additional ATP using halorhodopsin which absorbs photons and produces energy by potential difference formed by opening the chloride ion channel. It often shows a color of pink or red because of their high content of carotenoid pigments and it is considered to act as a defense mechanism against intense UV irradiation. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effect of the halophilic microorganism, H. vallismortis, extract was investigated. It was found that H. vallismortis extract had protective effect on DNA damage induced by UV irradiation. These results suggest that the extract of halophilic bacterium, H. vallismortis could be used as a bio-sunscreen or natural sunscreen which ameliorate the harmful effects of UV light with its anti-inflammatory and DNA protective properties.