Light-induced conformational changes in cattle rhodopsin as probed by measurements of the interface potential

Rhodopsin, light-sensor of vision

The light sensor of vertebrate scotopic (low-light) vision, rhodopsin, is a G-protein-coupled receptor comprising a polypeptide chain with bound chromophore, 11-cis-retinal, that exhibits remarkable physicochemical properties. This photopigment is extremely stable in the dark, yet its chromophore isomerises upon photon absorption with 70% efficiency, enabling the activation of its G-protein, transducin, with high efficiency. Rhodopsin's photochemical and biochemical activities occur over very different time-scales: the energy of retinaldehyde's excited state is stored in <1 ps in retinal-protein interactions, but it takes milliseconds for the catalytically active state to form, and many tens of minutes for the resting state to be restored. In this review, we describe the properties of rhodopsin and its role in rod phototransduction. We first introduce rhodopsin's gross structural features, its evolution, and the basic mechanisms of its activation. We then discuss light absorption and spectral sensitivity, photoreceptor electrical responses that result from the activity of individual rhodopsin molecules, and recovery of rhodopsin and the visual system from intense bleaching exposures. We then provide a detailed examination of rhodopsin's molecular structure and function, first in its dark state, and then in the active Meta states that govern its interactions with transducin, rhodopsin kinase and arrestin. While it is clear that rhodopsin's molecular properties are exquisitely honed for phototransduction, from starlight to dawn/dusk intensity levels, our understanding of how its molecular interactions determine the properties of scotopic vision remains incomplete. We describe potential future directions of research, and outline several major problems that remain to be solved.

Langmuir-Blodgett films of photosensitive proteins

The striking properties of monolayers and multilayers of photosensitive proteins obtained by using the Langmuir-Blodgett technique are described. The close packing of the protein molecules, which preserve most of the properties found in solution, seems to be the main cause for their thermal stability, which in some cases reached a temperature of 200 degrees C without the loss of the protein secondary structure. The review is focused on three of the most intensively studied photosensitive proteins, namely photosynthetic reaction centres, bacteriorhodopsin and bovine rhodopsin, and on their possible applications as molecular optical devices.

Photoelectric signals generated by bovine rod outer segment disk membranes attached to a lecithin bilayer

Purified bovine rod outer segment disk membranes were attached to a lecithin bilayer membrane. After photoexcitation with a 500-nm flash delivered by a dye laser, a negative photovoltage was observed on the bilayer under normal ionic strengths (100 mM KCl), which had a rise phase of 1-3 ms at 20 degrees C. The photoresponse was obviously due to bleaching of rhodopsin as it decreased for successive flashes of light. It originated most probably during the metarhodopsin-I metarhodopsin-II (meta-I-II) transition of rhodopsin because it was pH dependent at 2 degrees C but not at 20 degrees C. At 10 mM KCl, i.e., under hypotonic conditions, a positive photovoltage with slower kinetics than at high salt was observed. As the disk membranes were merely attached to the bilayer membrane, the photovoltage was apparently due to a light-induced transmembrane potential change in the disk membranes. Possible electrogenic mechanisms underlying the photosignal will be discussed.

On the origin and the signal-shaping mechanism of the fast photosignal in the vertebrate retina

Fast photosignals (FPS) with R(1) and R(2) components were measured in retinas of cattle, rat, and frog within a temperature range of 0 degrees to 60 degrees C. Except for temperatures near 0 degrees C the signal rise of the R(1) component was determined by the duration of the exciting flash. The kinetics of the R(2) component and the meta transition of rhodopsin in the cattle and rat retina were compared. For the analysis of the FPS it is presupposed that the signal is produced by light-induced charges on the outer segment envelope membrane that spread onto the whole plasma membrane of the photoreceptor cell. To a good approximation, this mechanism can be described by a model circuit with two distinct capacitors. In this model, the charging capacitance of the pigmented outer segment envelope membrane and the capacitance of the receptor's nonpigmented plasma membrane are connected via the extra- and intracellular electrolyte resistances. The active charging is explained by two independent processes, both with exponential rise (R(1) and R(2)), that are due to charge displacements within the pigmented envelope membrane. The time constant tau(2) of the R(2) membrane charging process shows a strong temperature dependence that of the charge redistribution, tau(r), a weak one. In frog and cattle retinas the active charging is much slower within a large temperature range than the passive charge redistribution. From the two-capacitor model it follows for tau(r) << tau(2) that the rise of the R(2) component is determined by tau(r), whereas the decay is given by tau(2). For the rat retina, however, tau(2) approaches tau(r) at physiological temperatures and becomes <tau(r) above 45 degrees C. In this temperature range where tau(2) approximately tau(r), both processes affect rise and decay of the photosignal. The absolute values of tau(r) are in good accordance with the known electric parameters of the photoreceptors. At least in the cattle retina, the time constant tau(2) is identical with that of the slow component of the meta II formation. The strong temperature dependence of the meta transition time gives rise to the marked decrease of the R(2) amplitude with falling temperature. As the R(1) rise could not be fully time resolved the signal analysis does not yield the time constant tau(1) of the R(1) generating process. It could be established, however, within the whole temperature range that the decay of the R(1) component is determined by tau(r). Using an extended model that allows for membrane leakage, we show that in normal ringer solution the membrane time constant does not influence the signal time-course and amplitude.

Fast stages of photoelectric processes in biological membranes. II. Visual rhodopsin

The functioning of visual rhodopsin as a photoelectric generator has been demonstrated with a direct method. Photoreceptor discs were incorporated into a phospholipid-impregnated collodion film. Illumination of the resulting system with continuous light was found to induce formation of an electric potential (the disc-free side positive) that was measured with two electrodes separated by the film. A photopotential exceeding 40 mV was shown. It dissipated before the light source was switched off. A 15 ns 530-nm laser flash induced the formation of a photopotential of up to 35 mV whose appearance was preceded with a small oppositely directed electrogenic phase. This "negative" photoresponse took less than 200 ns. The "positive" photoresponse was composed of at least two phases (t 1/2 about 500 microseconds and several milliseconds). The latter was shown to correlate with formation of metarhodopsin II. A 347-nm laser flash added after a 530-nm flash resulted in a photoelectric effect similar to that initiated by 530-nm flash but of opposite direction. The 347-nm response was completely abolished by hydroxylamine preventing the accumulation of metarhodopsin II. The response at 530 nm proved to be hydroxylamine-resistant. Both the amplitude and the decay time of the flash-induced potential were maximal in the response to the first flash, each subsequent flash being less effective than the preceding one. Flashes were found to cause acceleration of the photopotential decay. The latter effect proved to be due to a increase of membrane conductance that developed faster than in 50 ms. Addition of 11-cis retinal after illumination improved the amplitude of the photoresponse but not the conductance. The light-induced increase in conductance was insensitive to hydroxylamine. It is suggested that a function of visual rhodopsin consists of generating a potential difference across the photoreceptor disc membrane which responds with a increase in membrane permeability to a rise of the membrane potential. A possible role of an electric break-down of the membrane, induced by the rhodopsin-generated local or partially delocalized electric field has been discussed.

The concept of chemical capacitance, A critique

The concept of chemical capacitance as introduced by Hong and Mauzerall (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1974. 71:1564) is critically reexamined. This novel capacitance was introduced to explain the time-course of flash-induced photocurrents observed in lipid bilayer membranes containing porphyrins. According to Hong and Mauzerall, the chemical capacitance results from a combination of three fundamental capacitances: the geometric membrane capacitance and the two interfacial double layer capacitances. The concept of chemical capacitance is questioned for the following reasons: (i) The system analysis is insufficiently determinate. (ii) The measured chemical capacitance is approximately 0.16% of that predicted by the theory. (iii) The fact that only 20% of the membrane area is illuminated was not considered in the analysis. The latter point offers an alternative explanation of the capacitance in question: this capacitance may reflect that fraction of the total membrane capacitance that is photochemically active. If so, the concept of chemical capacitance lacks general significance.

Functional reassembly of membrane proteins in planar lipid bilayers

Recent progress in membrane biology has brought us to a stage where it is possible to associate complex biological processes to identifiable membrane proteins. Technical advances in the biochemical characterization and purification of membrane proteins have contributed a wealth of structural information. The reconstitution approach has proved to be valuable in our efforts to understand the molecular mechanisms of membrane transport and energy transduction.

Electric response of a back photoreaction in the bacteriorhodopsin photocycle

The electric response of a back photoreaction in the bacteriorhodopsin photocycle was investigated. The proton pumping activity of green flash excited bacteriorhodopsin stops if the M412 form is illuminated by blue light (Karvaly and Dancsházy, 1977). In the present work a fast negative displacement current signal was measured in an oriented membrane suspension system, indicative of back movement of protons from M412 to BR570. Quantitative evaluation of the data shows that there are at least two steps in the back reaction, with different rate constants. The temperature dependence of the rate constants show simple linear Arrhenius behavior between 5 degree and 40 degree C. The rate constants were slower by a factor of 1.8 in D2O suspension. The relevance of the protein electric response signals (PERS) observed in this paper to the early receptor potential is discussed.

Light-induced interfacial potentials in photoreceptor membranes

A rapid change in an interfacial electric potential of isolated bovine rod outer segment disk membranes occurs upon illumination. This potential change, which has been detected by the use of spin-labeled hydrophobic ions, apparently occurs within a low dielectric boundary region of the membrane near the external (cytoplasmic) surface and is positive with respect to the aqueous exterior of the disk. The magnitude of the potential change is pH-and temperature-dependent and appears with a first-order half-time of approximately 7 ms at 21 degrees C. A simple model in which one positive charge per bleached rhodopsin is translocated from the cytoplasmic aqueous space into the membrane low dielectric boundary region readily accounts for all experimental observations. The great similarity of the boundary potential change to the R2 phase of the early receptor potential suggests that the two have the same molecular origin.

I. Novel capacitative electrode with a wide frequency range for measurements of flash-induced changes of interface potential at the oil-water interface. Mechanical construction and electrical characteristics of the electrode

The mechanical construction and the electrical properties of a new type of capacitative electrode for the oil-water interface are described. The electrode is designed to detect changes of the interface potential induced by photochemical, photophysical, and photobiological reactions occurring at the interface. The construction is based on capacitative coupling of two aqueous compartments separated by a thin Teflon film. Thereby, the oil-water interface is in horizontal position and the electrode is placed with its planar bottom about 10 micrometer above the interface. A main feature of the electrode is the transparency to visible light which is achieved by having a clear electrolyte solution in the inner compartment of the capacitative electrode. The aqueous subphase and the inner electrolyte are connected with Ag/AgCl electrodes to voltage amplifiers. The capacitative electrode is best operated under open circuit conditions. The frequency range experimentally verified is 500 MHz larger than or equal to 0.03 Hz. The sensitivity is mainly determined by the noise of the electronic amplifiers, typical 50-100 muV.