Fourier transform infrared evidence of proton uptake by glutamate L212 upon reduction of the secondary quinone QB in the photosynthetic reaction center from Rhodobacter capsulatus.

The photoreduction of the secondary quinone Q(B) in native reaction centers (RCs) of Rhodobacter capsulatus and in RCs from the GluL212 --> Gln and GluL212 --> Ala mutants has been investigated at pH 7 in (1)H(2)O and (2)H(2)O by light-induced Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) difference spectroscopy. The Q(B)(-)/Q(B) FTIR difference spectra reflect changes of quinone-protein interactions and of protonation state of carboxylic acid groups as well as reorganization of the protein upon electron transfer. Comparison of Q(B)(-)/Q(B) spectra of native and mutant RCs indicates that the interactions between Q(B) or Q(B)(-) and the protein are similar in all RCs. A differential signal at approximately 1650/1640 cm(-1), which is common to all the spectra, is associated with a movement of a peptide carbonyl or a side chain following Q(B) reduction. On the other hand, Q(B)(-)/Q(B) spectra of native and mutant RCs display several differences, notably between 1700 and 1650 cm(-1) (amide I and side chains), between 1570 and 1530 cm(-1) (amide II), and at 1728-1730 cm(-1) (protonated carboxylic acid groups). In particular, the latter region in native RCs is characterized by a main positive band at 1728 cm(-1) and a negative signal at 1739 cm(-1). In the L212 mutants, the amplitude of the positive band is strongly decreased leading to a differential signal at 1739/1730 cm(-1) that is insensitive to (1)H/(2)H isotopic exchange. In native RCs, only the 1728 cm(-1) band is affected in (2)H(2)O while the 1739 cm(-1) signal is not. The effects of the mutations and of (1)H/(2)H exchange on the Q(B)(-)/Q(B) spectra concur in the attribution of the 1728 cm(-1) band in native RCs to (partial) proton uptake by GluL212 upon the first electron transfer to Q(B), as previously observed in Rhodobacter sphaeroides RCs [Nabedryk, E., Breton, J., Hienerwadel, R., Fogel, C., Mäntele, W., Paddock, M. L., and Okamura, M. Y. (1995) Biochemistry 34, 14722-14732]. More generally, strong homologies of the Q(B) to Q(B)(-) transition in the RCs from Rb. sphaeroides and Rb. capsulatus are detected by differential FTIR spectroscopy. The FTIR data are discussed in relation with the results from global proton uptake measurements and electrogenic events concomitant with the reduction of Q(B) and with a model of the Q(B) turnover in Rb. sphaeroides RCs [Mulkidjanian, A. Y. (1999) FEBS Lett. 463, 199-204].