Excited-State Vibronic Dynamics of Bacteriorhodopsin from Two-Dimensional Electronic Photon Echo Spectroscopy and Multiconfigurational Quantum Chemistry

In Silico Study of a Bacteriorhodopsin/TiO2 Hybrid System at the Molecular Level

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a light-harvesting membrane protein that represents a promising sensitizer of TiO2 for photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical devices. However, despite numerous experimental studies, the molecular-level understanding of the bR/TiO2 hybrid system is still unsatisfactory. In this contribution, we report the construction and analysis of an atomistic model of such a system. To do so, both steered molecular dynamics-molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics computations are applied to four different bR orientations on the anatase TiO2 surface. The resulting bR/TiO2 models are then used to compute the light absorption maxima changes relative to those of bR. We show that all four models reproduce the experimentally observed blue-shift value induced by bR binding on TiO2 and could be used to study the binding and binding-induced protein modifications. We conclude that the constructed models could provide a basis for future studies aiming to simulate the complex long-range electron transfer mechanism in bR/TiO2-based solar energy conversion devices as well as in engineering bR to achieve enhanced efficiencies.

Mapping photoisomerization dynamics on a three-state model potential energy surface in bacteriorhodopsin using femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy

The process of proton translocation in Halobacterium salinarum, triggered by light, is powered by the photoisomerization of all-trans-retinal in bacteriorhodopsin (bR). The primary events in bR involving rapid structural changes upon light absorption occur within subpicoseconds to picoseconds. While the three-state model has received extensive support in describing the primary events between the H and K states, precise characterization of each excited state in the three-state model during photoisomerization remains elusive. In this study, we investigate the ultrafast structural dynamics of all-trans-retinal in bR using femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy. We report Raman modes at 1820 cm-1 which arise from C[double bond, length as m-dash]C stretch vibronic coupling and provide direct experimental evidence for the involvement of the I and J states with 2A- g symmetric character in the three-state model. The detection of the C[double bond, length as m-dash]C vibronic coupling mode, C[double bond, length as m-dash]N stretching mode (1700 cm-1), and hydrogen out-of-plane (HOOP) mode (954 cm-1) further supports the three-state model that elucidates the initial charge translocation along the conjugated chain accompanied by trans-to-cis photoisomerization dynamics through H(1B+ u) → I(2A- g) → J(2A- g) → K(13-cis ground state) transitions in all-trans-retinal in bR.

Archaerhodopsin 3 is an ideal template for the engineering of highly fluorescent optogenetic reporters

Archaerhodopsin-3 (AR-3) variants stand out among other rhodopsins in that they display a weak, but voltage-sensitive, near-infrared fluorescence emission. This has led to their application in optogenetics both in cell cultures and small animals. However, in the context of improving the fluorescence characteristics of the next generation of AR-3 reporters, an understanding of their ultrafast light-response in light-adapted conditions, is mandatory. To this end, we present a combined experimental and computational investigation of the excited state dynamics and quantum yields of AR-3 and its DETC and Arch-5 variants. The latter always display a mixture of all-trans/15-anti and 13-cis/15-syn isomers, which leads to a bi-exponential excited state decay. The isomerisation quantum yield is reduced more than 20 times as compared to WT AR-3 and proves that the steady-state fluorescence is induced by a single absorption photon event. In wild-type AR-3, we show that a 300 fs, barrier-less and vibrationally coherent isomerization is driven by an unusual covalent electronic character of its all-trans retinal chromophore leading to a metastable twisted diradical (TIDIR), in clear contrast to the standard charge-transfer scenario established for other microbial rhodopsins. We discuss how the presence of TIDIR makes AR-3 an ideal candidate for the design of variants with a one-photon induced fluorescence possibly reaching the emission quantum yield of the top natural emitter neorhodopsin (NeoR).

Reversible Photochromic Reactions of Bacteriorhodopsin from Halobacterium salinarum at Femto- and Picosecond Times

The operation of bacteriorhodopsin (BR) from the archaeon Halobacterium salinarum is based on the photochromic reaction of isomerization of the chromophore group (the retinal protonated Schiff base, RPSB) from the all-trans to the 13-cis form. The ultrafast dynamics of the reverse 13-cis → all-trans photoreaction was studied using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy in comparison with the forward photoreaction. The forward photoreaction was initiated by photoexcitation of BR by pulse I (540 nm). The reverse photoreaction was initiated by photoexcitation of the product K590 at an early stage of its formation (5 ps) by pulse II (660 nm). The conversion of the excited K590 to the ground state proceeds at times of 0.19, 1.1, and 16 ps with the relative contributions of ~20/60/20, respectively. All these decay channels lead to the formation of the initial state of BR as a product with a quantum yield of ~1. This state is preceded by vibrationally excited intermediates, the relaxation of which occurs in the 16 ps time range. Likely, the heterogeneity of the excited state of K590 is determined by the heterogeneity of its chromophore center. The forward photoreaction includes two components-0.52 and 3.5 ps, with the relative contributions of 91/9, respectively. The reverse photoreaction initiated from K590 proceeds more efficiently in the conical intersection (CI) region but on the whole at a lower rate compared to the forward photoreaction, due to significant heterogeneity of the potential energy surface.

Ultrafast terahertz Stark spectroscopy reveals the excited-state dipole moments of retinal in bacteriorhodopsin

The photoinduced all-trans to 13-cis isomerization of the retinal Schiff base represents the ultrafast first step in the reaction cycle of bacteriorhodopsin (BR). Extensive experimental and theoretical work has addressed excited-state dynamics and isomerization via a conical intersection with the ground state. In conflicting molecular pictures, the excited state potential energy surface has been modeled as a pure S[Formula: see text] state that intersects with the ground state, or in a 3-state picture involving the S[Formula: see text] and S[Formula: see text] states. Here, the photoexcited system passes two crossing regions to return to the ground state. The electric dipole moment of the Schiff base in the S[Formula: see text] and S[Formula: see text] state differs strongly and, thus, its measurement allows for assessing the character of the excited-state potential. We apply the method of ultrafast terahertz (THz) Stark spectroscopy to measure electric dipole changes of wild-type BR and a BR D85T mutant upon electronic excitation. A fully reversible transient broadening and spectral shift of electronic absorption is induced by a picosecond THz field of several megavolts/cm and mapped by a 120-fs optical probe pulse. For both BR variants, we derive a moderate electric dipole change of 5 [Formula: see text] 1 Debye, which is markedly smaller than predicted for a neat S[Formula: see text]-character of the excited state. In contrast, S[Formula: see text]-admixture and temporal averaging of excited-state dynamics over the probe pulse duration gives a dipole change in line with experiment. Our results support a picture of electronic and nuclear dynamics governed by the interaction of S[Formula: see text] and S[Formula: see text] states in a 3-state model.

Photodissociation of leucine-enkephalin protonated peptide: an experimental and theoretical perspective

Understanding the competing processes that govern far ultraviolet photodissociation (FUV-PD) of biopolymers such as proteins is a challenge. Here, we report a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of FUV-PD of protonated leucine-enkephalin pentapeptide ([YGGFL + H]+) in the gas-phase. Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations in combination with experiments and previous results for amino acids and shorter peptides help in rationalizing the evolution of the excited states. The results confirm that fragmentation of [YGGFL + H]+ results mainly from vibrationally excited species in the ground electronic state, populated after internal conversion. We also propose fragmentation mechanisms for specific photo-fragments such as tyrosine side chain loss (with an extra hydrogen) or hydrogen loss. In general, we observe the same mechanisms as for smaller peptides or protonated Tyr and Phe, that are not quenched by the presence of other amino acids. Nevertheless, we also found some differences, as for H loss, in part due to the fact that the charge is solvated by the peptide chain and not only by the COOH terminal group.

Retinal photoisomerization versus counterion protonation in light and dark-adapted bacteriorhodopsin and its primary photoproduct

Discovered over 50 years ago, bacteriorhodopsin is the first recognized and most widely studied microbial retinal protein. Serving as a light-activated proton pump, it represents the archetypal ion-pumping system. Here we compare the photochemical dynamics of bacteriorhodopsin light and dark-adapted forms with that of the first metastable photocycle intermediate known as "K". We observe that following thermal double isomerization of retinal in the dark from bio-active all-trans 15-anti to 13-cis, 15-syn, photochemistry proceeds even faster than the ~0.5 ps decay of the former, exhibiting ballistic wave packet curve crossing to the ground state. In contrast, photoexcitation of K containing a 13-cis, 15-anti chromophore leads to markedly multi-exponential excited state decay including much slower stages. QM/MM calculations, aimed to interpret these results, highlight the crucial role of protonation, showing that the classic quadrupole counterion model poorly reproduces spectral data and dynamics. Single protonation of ASP212 rectifies discrepancies and predicts triple ground state structural heterogeneity aligning with experimental observations. These findings prompt a reevaluation of counter ion protonation in bacteriorhodopsin and contribute to the broader understanding of its photochemical dynamics.

Resonant multiphoton processes and excitation limits to structural dynamics

Understanding the chemical reactions that give rise to functional biological systems is at the core of structural biology. As techniques are developed to study the chemical reactions that drive biological processes, it must be ensured that the reaction occurring is indeed a biologically relevant pathway. There is mounting evidence indicating that there has been a propagation of systematic error in the study of photoactive biological processes; the optical methods used to probe the structural dynamics of light activated protein functions have failed to ensure that the photoexcitation prepares a well-defined initial state relevant to the biological process of interest. Photoexcitation in nature occurs in the linear (one-photon per chromophore) regime; however, the extreme excitation conditions used experimentally give rise to biologically irrelevant multiphoton absorption. To evaluate and ensure the biological relevance of past and future experiments, a theoretical framework has been developed to determine the excitation conditions, which lead to resonant multiphoton absorption (RMPA) and thus define the excitation limit in general for the study of structural dynamics within the 1-photon excitation regime. Here, we apply the theoretical model to bacteriorhodopsin (bR) and show that RMPA occurs when excitation conditions exceed the linear saturation threshold, well below typical excitation conditions used in this class of experiments. This work provides the guidelines to ensure excitation in the linear 1-photon regime is relevant to biological and chemical processes.

Quantifying Bacteriorhodopsin Activity as a Function of its Local Environment with a Raman-Based Assay

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a transmembrane protein that functions as a light-driven proton pump in halophilic archaea. The bR photocycle has been well-characterized; however, these measurements almost exclusively measured purified bR, outside of its native membrane. To investigate what effect the cellular environment has on the bR photocycle, we have developed a Raman-based assay that can monitor the activity of the bR in a variety of conditions, including in its native membrane. The assay uses two continuous-wave lasers, one to initiate photochemistry and one to monitor bR activity. The excitation leads to the steady-state depletion of ground-state bR, which directly relates to the population of photocycle intermediate states. We have used this assay to monitor bR activity both in vitro and in vivo. Our in vitro measurements confirm that our assay is sensitive to bulk environmental changes reported in the literature. Our in vivo measurements show a decrease in bR activity with increasing extracellular pH for bR in its native membrane. The difference in activity with increasing pH indicates that the native membrane environment affects the function of bR. This assay opens the door to future measurements into understanding how the local environment of this transmembrane protein affects function.

Experimental Assessment of the Electronic and Geometrical Structure of a Near-Infrared Absorbing and Highly Fluorescent Microbial Rhodopsin

The recently discovered Neorhodopsin (NeoR) exhibits absorption and emission maxima in the near-infrared spectral region, which together with the high fluorescence quantum yield makes it an attractive retinal protein for optogenetic applications. The unique optical properties can be rationalized by a theoretical model that predicts a high charge transfer character in the electronic ground state (S0) which is otherwise typical of the excited state S1 in canonical retinal proteins. The present study sets out to assess the electronic structure of the NeoR chromophore by resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopy since frequencies and relative intensities of RR bands are controlled by the ground and excited state's properties. The RR spectra of NeoR differ dramatically from those of canonical rhodopsins but can be reliably reproduced by the calculations carried out within two different structural models. The remarkable agreement between the experimental and calculated spectra confirms the consistency and robustness of the theoretical approach.

Similarities and Differences in Photochemistry of Type I and Type II Rhodopsins

The diversity of the retinal-containing proteins (rhodopsins) in nature is extremely large. Fundamental similarity of the structure and photochemical properties unites them into one family. However, there is still a debate about the origin of retinal-containing proteins: divergent or convergent evolution? In this review, based on the results of our own and literature data, a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences in the photoconversion of the rhodopsin of types I and II is carried out. The results of experimental studies of the forward and reverse photoreactions of the bacteriorhodopsin (type I) and visual rhodopsin (type II) rhodopsins in the femto- and picosecond time scale, photo-reversible reaction of the octopus rhodopsin (type II), photovoltaic reactions, as well as quantum chemical calculations of the forward photoreactions of bacteriorhodopsin and visual rhodopsin are presented. The issue of probable convergent evolution of type I and type II rhodopsins is discussed.

Automated QM/MM Screening of Rhodopsin Variants with Enhanced Fluorescence

We present a computational protocol for the fast and automated screening of excited-state hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) models of rhodopsins to be used as fluorescent probes based on the automatic rhodopsin modeling protocol (a-ARM). Such "a-ARM fluorescence screening protocol" is implemented through a general Python-based driver, PyARM, that is also proposed here. The implementation and performance of the protocol are benchmarked using different sets of rhodopsin variants whose absorption and, more relevantly, emission spectra have been experimentally measured. We show that, despite important limitations that make unsafe to use it as a black-box tool, the protocol reproduces the observed trends in fluorescence and it is capable of selecting novel potentially fluorescent rhodopsins. We also show that the protocol can be used in mechanistic investigations to discern fluorescence enhancement effects associated with a near degeneracy of the S₁/S₂ states or, alternatively, with a barrier generated via coupling of the S₀/S₁ wave functions.

Leveraging Dynamical Symmetries in Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectra to Extract Population Transfer Pathways

We present a method to deterministically isolate population transfer kinetics from two-dimensional electronic spectroscopic signals. Central to this analysis is the characterization of how all possible subensembles of excited state systems evolve through the population time. When these dynamics are diagrammatically mapped by using double-sided Feynman pathways where population time dynamics are included, a useful symmetry emerges between excited state absorption and ground state bleach recovery dynamics of diagonal and below diagonal cross-peak signals. This symmetry allows removal of pathways from the spectra to isolate signals that evolve according to energy transfer kinetics. We describe a regression procedure to fit to energy transfer time constants and characterize the accuracy of the method in a variety of complex excited state systems using simulated two-dimensional spectra. Our results show that the method is robust for extracting ultrafast energy transfer in multistate excitonic systems, systems containing dark states that affect the signal kinetics, and systems with interfering vibrational relaxation pathways. This procedure can be used to accurately extract energy transfer kinetics from a wide variety of condensed phase systems.

Quantum-classical simulations of rhodopsin reveal excited-state population splitting and its effects on quantum efficiency

The activation of rhodopsin, the light-sensitive G-protein coupled receptor responsible for dim-light vision in vertebrates, is driven by an ultrafast excited-state double-bond isomerization with a quantum efficiency of almost 70%. The origin of such light sensitivity is not understood and a key question is whether in-phase nuclear motion controls the quantum efficiency value. Here, we use hundreds of quantum-classical trajectories to show that, 15 femtoseconds after light absorption, a degeneracy between the reactive excited state and a neighboring state causes the splitting of the rhodopsin population into subpopulations. These subpopulations propagate with different velocities and lead to distinct contributions to the quantum efficiency. We also show that such splitting is modulated by protein electrostatics, thus linking amino-acid sequence variations to quantum efficiency modulation. Finally, we discuss how such a linkage that in principle could be exploited to achieve higher quantum efficiencies, would simultaneously increase the receptor thermal noise leading to a trade-off that may have played a role in rhodopsin evolution.

Coupled- and Independent-Trajectory Approaches Based on the Exact Factorization Using the PyUNIxMD Package

We present mixed quantum-classical approaches based on the exact factorization framework. The electron-nuclear correlation term in the exact factorization enables us to deal with quantum coherences by accounting for electronic and nuclear nonadiabatic couplings effectively within classical nuclei approximation. We compare coupled- and independent-trajectory approximations with each other to understand algorithms in description of the bifurcation of nuclear wave packets and the correct spatial distribution of electronic wave functions along with nuclear trajectories. Finally, we show numerical results for comparisons of coupled- and independent-trajectory approaches for the photoisomerization of a protonated Schiff base from excited state molecular dynamics (ESMD) simulations with the recently developed Python-based ESMD code, namely, the PyUNIxMD program.

A Unified View on Varied Ultrafast Dynamics of the Primary Process in Microbial Rhodopsins

All-trans to 13-cis photoisomerization of the protonated retinal Schiff base (PRSB) chromophore is the primary step that triggers various biological functions of microbial rhodopsins. While this ultrafast primary process has been extensively studied, it has been recognized that the relevant excited-state relaxation dynamics differ significantly from one rhodopsin to another. To elucidate the origin of the complicated ultrafast dynamics of the primary process in microbial rhodopsins, we studied the excited-state dynamics of proteorhodopsin, its D97N mutant, and bacteriorhodopsin by femtosecond time-resolved absorption (TA) spectroscopy in a wide pH range. The TA data showed that their excited-state relaxation dynamics drastically change when pH approaches the pKa of the counterion residue of the PRSB chromophore in the ground state. This result reveals that the varied excited-state relaxation dynamics in different rhodopsins mainly originate from the difference of the ground-state heterogeneity (i.e., protonation/deprotonation of the PRSB counterion).

Spectroscopy and photoisomerization of protonated Schiff-base retinal derivatives in vacuo

The protonated Schiff-base retinal acts as the chromophore in bacteriorhodopsin as well as in rhodopsin. In both cases, photoexcitation initializes fast isomerization which eventually results in storage of chemical energy or signaling. The details of the photophysics for this important chromophore is still not fully understood. In this study, action-absorption spectra and photoisomerization dynamics of three retinal derivatives are measured in the gas phase and compared to that of the protonated Schiff-base retinal. The retinal derivatives include C₉C₁₀trans-locked, C₁₃C₁₄trans-locked and a retinal derivative without the β-ionone ring. The spectroscopy as well as the isomerization speed of the chromophores are altered significantly as a consequence of the steric constraints.

Unlocking the Double Bond in Protonated Schiff Bases by Coherent Superposition of S1 and S2

The primary event occurring during the E-to-Z photoisomerization reaction of retinal protonated Schiff base (rPSB) is single-to-double bond inversion. In this work we examine the nuclear dynamics that occurs when the initial excited state is a superposition of the S₁ and S₂ electronic excited states that might be created in a laser experiment. The nuclear dynamics is dominated by double bond inversion that is parallel to the derivative coupling vector of S₁ and S₂. Thus, the molecule behaves as if it were at a conical intersection even if the states are nondegenerate.