DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Examination of Abiotic Cofactor Assembly in Photosynthetic Biomimetics – Site-Specific Stereoselectivity in the Conjugation of a Ruthenium(II) Tris(Bipyridine) Photosensitizer to a Multi-Heme Protein

Journal Article · · Photosynthesis Research

To understand design principles for assembling photosynthetic biohybrids that incorporate precisely-controlled sites for electron injection into redox enzyme cofactor arrays, we investigated the influence of chirality in assembly of the photosensitizer ruthenium(II)bis(2,2'-bipyridine)(4-bromomethyl-4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridine), Ru(bpy)2(Br-bpy), when covalently conjugated to cysteine residues introduced by site-directed mutagenesis in the triheme periplasmic cytochrome A (PpcA) as a model biohybrid system. For two investigated conjugates that show ultrafast electron transfer, A23C-Ru and K29C-Ru, analysis by circular dichroism spectroscopy, CD, demonstrated site-specific chiral discrimination as a factor emerging from the close association between [Ru(bpy)3]2+ and heme cofactors. CD analysis showed the A23C-Ru and K29C-Ru conjugates to have distinct, but opposite, stereoselectivity for the Λ and Δ-Ru(bpy)2(Br-bpy) enantiomers, with enantiomeric excesses of 33.1% and 65.6%, respectively. In contrast, Ru(bpy)2(Br-bpy) conjugation to a protein site with high flexibility, represented by the E39C-Ru construct, exhibited a nearly negligible chiral selectivity, measured by an enantiomeric excess of 4.2% for the Λ enantiomer. Molecular dynamics simulations showed that site-specific stereoselectivity reflects steric constraints at the conjugating sites and that a high degree of chiral selectivity correlates to reduced structural disorder for [Ru(bpy)3]2+ in the linked assembly. This work identifies chiral discrimination as means to achieve site-specific, precise geometric positioning of introduced photosensitizers relative to the heme cofactors in manner that mimics the tuning of cofactors in photosynthesis.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1657512
Journal Information:
Photosynthesis Research, Journal Name: Photosynthesis Research Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 143; ISSN 0166-8595
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (114)

Photobiocatalysis: Activating Redox Enzymes by Direct or Indirect Transfer of Photoinduced Electrons journal May 2018
Theoretical CD studies of polypeptide helices: Examination of important electronic and geometric factors journal April 1991
Synthesis, Characterization and Luminescence Properties of Dipyridin-2-ylamine Ligands and Their Bis(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) Complexes and Labelling Studies of Papain from Carica papaya: Luminescent Polypyridyl Ruthenium(II) Complexes journal September 2010
Classical force field parameters for the heme prosthetic group of cytochrome c journal October 2004
CHARMM: The biomolecular simulation program journal July 2009
Ratio of ellipticities between 192 and 208 nm ( R 1 ): An effective electronic circular dichroism parameter for characterization of the helical components of proteins and peptides journal August 2017
Side chain-backbone hydrogen bonding contributes to helix stability in peptides derived from an α-helical region of carboxypeptidase A journal February 1991
Structure Analysis of Cytochrome c3 From Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough at 1·9 Å Resolution journal December 1993
A versatile technique based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for label-free detection of amino acids and peptide formation in body fluids journal February 2022
The effect of acidic pH on the adsorption and lytic activity of the peptides Polybia-MP1 and its histidine-containing analog in anionic lipid membrane: a biophysical study by molecular dynamics and spectroscopy journal April 2021
An introduction to methods for analyzing thiols and disulfides: Reactions, reagents, and practical considerations journal November 2009
Ru(II)-diimine functionalized metalloproteins: From electron transfer studies to light-driven biocatalysis journal May 2016
How to study proteins by circular dichroism journal August 2005
Thermodynamic Characterization of a Triheme Cytochrome Family from Geobacter sulfurreducens Reveals Mechanistic and Functional Diversity journal July 2010
Light-driven hydrogen production from Photosystem I-catalyst hybrids journal April 2015
Ruthenium coordination compounds of biological and biomedical significance. DNA binding agents journal December 2018
Enantiomeric discrimination of Ru-substrates by cytochrome P450cam journal August 2000
Still a puzzle: why is haem covalently attached in c-type cytochromes? journal January 1999
Modular Homogeneous Chromophore–Catalyst Assemblies journal April 2016
Optical activity of hemoproteins in the Soret region. Circular dichroism of the heme undecapeptide of cytochrome c in aqueous solution journal July 1993
Family of Cytochrome c 7 -Type Proteins from Geobacter sulfurreducens :  Structure of One Cytochrome c 7 at 1.45 Å Resolution , journal February 2004
Formation of thin polymeric films by electropolymerization. Reduction of metal complexes containing bromomethyl-substituted derivatives of 2,2'-bipyridine journal July 1991
Preparation and Characterization of cis-.LAMBDA.-[Ru(bpy)2(py)(O)]2+ journal February 1995
Origin of the heme Cotton effects in myoglobin and hemoglobin journal July 1971
Site-Dependent Stereoselective Binding of Ruthenium Aquobipyridine Complexes to Histidine Side Chains in Horse Heart Cytochrome c journal December 1998
Exploiting Chromophore–Protein Interactions through Linker Engineering To Tune Photoinduced Dynamics in a Biomimetic Light-Harvesting Platform journal May 2018
Involvement of Propionate Side Chains of the Heme in Circular Dichroism of Myoglobin: Experimental and Theoretical Analyses journal January 2015
Internal Electric Field in Cytochrome C Explored by Visible Electronic Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy. journal August 2008
All-Atom Empirical Potential for Molecular Modeling and Dynamics Studies of Proteins journal April 1998
Sensitivity of circular dichroism to protein tertiary structure class journal October 1983
Natural engineering principles of electron tunnelling in biological oxidation–reduction journal November 1999
Using circular dichroism spectra to estimate protein secondary structure journal January 2007
Semi-synthetic strategy journal October 2018
Interfacing nature’s catalytic machinery with synthetic materials for semi-artificial photosynthesis journal October 2018
Stepwise gating of the Sec61 protein-conducting channel by Sec63 and Sec62 journal January 2021
Circular and linear dichroism of proteins journal January 2007
Application of electronic circular dichroism in the study of supramolecular systems journal January 2014
Redox- and pH-linked conformational changes in triheme cytochrome PpcA from Geobacter sulfurreducens journal January 2017
A reference database for circular dichroism spectroscopy covering fold and secondary structure space journal June 2006
PCDDB: new developments at the Protein Circular Dichroism Data Bank journal September 2016
Database of Absorption and Fluorescence Spectra of >300 Common Compounds for use in PhotochemCAD journal February 2018
Electron-Tunneling Pathways in Oroteins journal December 1992
Light-driven dinitrogen reduction catalyzed by a CdS:nitrogenase MoFe protein biohybrid journal April 2016
Escherichia coli genes required for cytochrome c maturation. journal August 1995
Using spectroscopic tools to probe porphyrin deformation and porphyrin-protein interactions journal May 2011
The Role of Heme Chirality in the Circular Dichroism of Heme Proteins journal July 2014
Photobiocatalysis: Activating Redox Enzymes by Direct or Indirect Transfer of Photoinduced Electrons journal May 2018
Theoretical CD studies of polypeptide helices: Examination of important electronic and geometric factors journal April 1991
Application of Electronic Circular Dichroism in Configurational and Conformational Analysis of Organic Compounds journal August 2007
Efficient Asymmetric Synthesis ofΔ- andΛ-Enantiomers of (Bipyridyl)ruthenium Complexes and Crystallographic Analysis ofΔ-Bis(2,2′-bipyridine)(2,2′-bipyridine-4,4′-dicarboxylato)ruthenium: Diastereoselective Homo- and Heterochiral Ion Pairing Revisited journal August 2003
Efficient Asymmetric Synthesis of Δ‐ and Λ‐Enantiomers of (Bipyridyl)ruthenium Complexes and Crystallographic Analysis of Δ‐Bis(2,2′‐bipyridine)(2,2′‐bipyridine‐4,4′‐dicarboxylato)ruthenium: Diastereoselective Homo‐ and Heterochiral Ion Pairing Revisited journal January 2003
Synthesis, Characterization and Luminescence Properties of Dipyridin-2-ylamine Ligands and Their Bis(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) Complexes and Labelling Studies of Papain from Carica papaya: Luminescent Polypyridyl Ruthenium(II) Complexes journal September 2010
Classical force field parameters for the heme prosthetic group of cytochrome c journal October 2004
Scalable molecular dynamics with NAMD journal January 2005
CHARMM: The biomolecular simulation program journal July 2009
Distinct circular dichroism spectroscopic signatures of polyproline II and unordered secondary structures: Applications in secondary structure analyses: Polyproline II and Disordered CD Spectra journal October 2014
Ratio of ellipticities between 192 and 208 nm ( R 1 ): An effective electronic circular dichroism parameter for characterization of the helical components of proteins and peptides journal August 2017
Side chain-backbone hydrogen bonding contributes to helix stability in peptides derived from an α-helical region of carboxypeptidase A journal February 1991
Structure Analysis of Cytochrome c3 From Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough at 1·9 Å Resolution journal December 1993
A role of heme side-chains of human hemoglobin in its function revealed by circular dichroism and resonance Raman spectroscopy journal December 2017
VMD: Visual molecular dynamics journal February 1996
An introduction to methods for analyzing thiols and disulfides: Reactions, reagents, and practical considerations journal November 2009
Ru(II)-diimine functionalized metalloproteins: From electron transfer studies to light-driven biocatalysis journal May 2016
How to study proteins by circular dichroism journal August 2005
Thermodynamic Characterization of a Triheme Cytochrome Family from Geobacter sulfurreducens Reveals Mechanistic and Functional Diversity journal July 2010
Light-driven hydrogen production from Photosystem I-catalyst hybrids journal April 2015
Biological applications of Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes journal November 2018
Ruthenium coordination compounds of biological and biomedical significance. DNA binding agents journal December 2018
Orientation of the axial ligands and magnetic properties of the hemes in the triheme ferricytochrome PpcA from G. sulfurreducens determined by paramagnetic NMR journal July 2010
Production and preliminary characterization of a recombinant triheme cytochrome c7 from Geobacter sulfurreducens in Escherichia coli journal July 2002
Enantiomeric discrimination of Ru-substrates by cytochrome P450cam journal August 2000
Still a puzzle: why is haem covalently attached in c-type cytochromes? journal January 1999
Modular Homogeneous Chromophore–Catalyst Assemblies journal April 2016
Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Characterization of the Triheme Cytochrome from Geobacter sulfurreducens journal January 2018
Optical activity of hemoproteins in the Soret region. Circular dichroism of the heme undecapeptide of cytochrome c in aqueous solution journal July 1993
Family of Cytochrome c 7 -Type Proteins from Geobacter sulfurreducens :  Structure of One Cytochrome c 7 at 1.45 Å Resolution , journal February 2004
Formation of thin polymeric films by electropolymerization. Reduction of metal complexes containing bromomethyl-substituted derivatives of 2,2'-bipyridine journal July 1991
Preparation and Characterization of cis-.LAMBDA.-[Ru(bpy)2(py)(O)]2+ journal February 1995
“Chiral-at-Metal” Octahedral Ruthenium(II) Complexes with Achiral Ligands:  A New Type of Enantioselective Catalyst journal August 2003
Absorption, Circular Dichroism, and Luminescence Spectroscopy of Electrogenerated Δ-[Ru(bipy) 3 ] +/0/ - and Δ-[Os(bipy) 3 ] +/0/ - (bipy = 2,2‘-Bipyridine) journal January 1996
Origin of the heme Cotton effects in myoglobin and hemoglobin journal July 1971
Site-Dependent Stereoselective Binding of Ruthenium Aquobipyridine Complexes to Histidine Side Chains in Horse Heart Cytochrome c journal December 1998
Carbon Dots as Versatile Photosensitizers for Solar-Driven Catalysis with Redox Enzymes journal December 2016
Exploiting Chromophore–Protein Interactions through Linker Engineering To Tune Photoinduced Dynamics in a Biomimetic Light-Harvesting Platform journal May 2018
Ultrafast Light-Driven Electron Transfer in a Ru(II)tris(bipyridine)-Labeled Multiheme Cytochrome journal August 2019
Involvement of Propionate Side Chains of the Heme in Circular Dichroism of Myoglobin: Experimental and Theoretical Analyses journal January 2015
Bidirectional Photoinduced Electron Transfer in Ruthenium(II)-Tris-bipyridyl-Modified PpcA, a Multi-heme c -Type Cytochrome from Geobacter sulfurreducens journal December 2014
Internal Electric Field in Cytochrome C Explored by Visible Electronic Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy. journal August 2008
All-Atom Empirical Potential for Molecular Modeling and Dynamics Studies of Proteins journal April 1998
Sensitivity of circular dichroism to protein tertiary structure class journal October 1983
Natural engineering principles of electron tunnelling in biological oxidation–reduction journal November 1999
Using circular dichroism spectra to estimate protein secondary structure journal January 2007
Mechanism of pore opening in the calcium-activated chloride channel TMEM16A journal February 2021
Semi-synthetic strategy journal October 2018
Interfacing nature’s catalytic machinery with synthetic materials for semi-artificial photosynthesis journal October 2018
Z-scheme solar water splitting via self-assembly of photosystem I-catalyst hybrids in thylakoid membranes journal January 2018
Structural and photophysical characterisation of coordination and optical isomers of mononuclear ruthenium(ii) polypyridyl 1,2,4-triazole complexesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: analytical and semipreparative HPLC chromatograms, CD and UV/vis spectra. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/dt/b3/b301961f/ journal January 2003
Application of electronic circular dichroism in configurational and conformational analysis of organic compounds journal January 2007
Circular and linear dichroism of proteins journal January 2007
Application of electronic circular dichroism in the study of supramolecular systems journal January 2014
Redox- and pH-linked conformational changes in triheme cytochrome PpcA from Geobacter sulfurreducens journal January 2017
Revealing the structural origin of the redox-Bohr effect: the first solution structure of a cytochrome from Geobacter sulfurreducens journal December 2011
A reference database for circular dichroism spectroscopy covering fold and secondary structure space journal June 2006
PCDDB: new developments at the Protein Circular Dichroism Data Bank journal September 2016
Database of Absorption and Fluorescence Spectra of >300 Common Compounds for use in PhotochemCAD journal February 2018
Electron-Tunneling Pathways in Oroteins journal December 1992
Light-driven dinitrogen reduction catalyzed by a CdS:nitrogenase MoFe protein biohybrid journal April 2016
Escherichia coli genes required for cytochrome c maturation. journal August 1995
Using spectroscopic tools to probe porphyrin deformation and porphyrin-protein interactions journal May 2011
Interfacing nature's catalytic machinery with synthetic materials for semi-artificial photosynthesis. text January 2018
Research data supporting "Carbon Dots as Versatile Photosensitizers for Solar-Driven Catalysis with Redox Enzymes" dataset January 2016
Carbon Dots as Versatile Photosensitizers for Solar-Driven Catalysis with Redox Enzymes text January 2016
CHARMM: the biomolecular simulation program text January 2009
The Role of Heme Chirality in the Circular Dichroism of Heme Proteins journal July 2014