Network of hydrogen bonds near the oxygen-evolving Mn(4)CaO(5) cluster of photosystem II probed with FTIR difference spectroscopy.

We previously provided experimental evidence that an extensive network of hydrogen bonds exists near the oxygen-evolving Mn4CaO5 cluster in photosystem II and that elements of this network form part of a dominant proton-egress pathway leading from the Mn4CaO5 cluster to the thylakoid lumen. The evidence was based on (i) the elimination of the same ν(C═O) mode of a protonated carboxylate group in the S2-minus-S1 FTIR difference spectrum of wild-type PSII core complexes from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 by the mutations D1-E65A, D2-E312A, and D1-E329Q and (ii) the substantial decrease in the efficiency of the S3 to S0 transition caused by the mutations D1-D61A, D1-E65A, and D2-E312A. The eliminated ν(C═O) mode corresponds to an unidentified carboxylate group whose pKa value decreases in response to the increased charge that develops on the Mn4CaO5 cluster during the S1 to S2 transition. In the current study, we have extended our work to include the ν(C═O) regions of other Sn+1-minus-Sn FTIR difference spectra and to additional mutations of residues inferred to participate in networks of hydrogen bonds near the Mn4CaO5 cluster or leading from the Mn4CaO5 cluster to the thylakoid lumen. Our data suggest that a different carboxylate group has its pKa value increased during the S2 to S3 transition and that a third carboxylate group experiences a change in its environment during the S0 to S1 transition. The pKa values that shift during the S1 to S2 and S2 to S3 transitions appear to be restored during the S3 to S0 transition. The D1-R334A mutation decreases or eliminates the same ν(C═O) modes from the S2-minus-S1 and S3-minus-S2 spectra as mutations D1-E65A, D2-E312A, and D1-E329Q and substantially decreases the efficiency of the S3 to S0 transition. We conclude that D1-R334 participates in the same dominant proton-egress pathway that was identified in our previous study. The D1-Q165E mutation leaves the ν(C═O) region of the S2-minus-S1 FTIR difference spectrum intact, but it eliminates a mode from this region of the S3-minus-S2 spectrum. We conclude that D1-Q165 participates in an extensive network of hydrogen bonds that that extends across the Mn4CaO5 cluster to the D1-E65/D2-E312 dyad and that includes D1-E329 and several water molecules including the W2 and W3 water ligands of the Mn4CaO5 cluster's dangling MnA4 and Ca ions, respectively. The D2-E307Q, D2-D308N, D2-E310Q, and D2-E323Q mutations alter the ν(C═O) regions of none of the FTIR difference spectra. We conclude that these four residues are located far from the three unidentified carboxylate groups that give rise to the ν(C═O) features observed in the FTIR difference spectra.