title: A resonance Raman study of the C=N configurations of octopus rhodopsin, bathorhodopsin, and isorhodopsin.
abstract: The resonance Raman spectra of octopus rhodopsin, bathorhodopsin, and isorhodopsin at 120 K have been obtained as well as those of pigments regenerated with isotopically labeled retinals near the C14-C15 bond. Deuteration of the Schiff base nitrogen induces relatively large changes in the C-C stretch region between 1100 and 1300 cm-1, including a large frequency shift of the C14-C15 stretch mode located at 1206-1227 cm-1 in the three octopus species, as revealed by the Raman spectra of their 14,15-(13)C2 derivatives. Such results are different compared to those of the bovine pigments, in which no significant frequency shift of the C14-C15 stretch mode was observed upon Schiff base N deuteration. In an earlier Raman study of a Schiff base model compound which contained only one single bond adjacent to two double bonds, we have found that the stretch mode of this C-C single bond at 1232 cm-1 shifts up by 15 cm-1 and its intensity is also greatly reduced upon Schiff base N deuteration when the C=N configuration is anti [Deng et al., (1994) J. Phys. Chem. 98, 4776-4779]. The same study has also shown that when the C=N configuration is syn, the C-C stretch mode should be at about 1150 cm-1. Since the C14-C15 stretch mode frequency is relatively high in the spectra of octopus rhodopsin and bathorhodopsin (> 1200 cm-1) and since the normal mode pattern near the Schiff base is similar to the model, we suggest that the C=N configuration in these two species is anti. The different responses of the C14-C15 stretch mode to the Schiff base nitrogen deuteration in bovine and octopus pigments are due to the fact that the coupled C14-C15 stretch and the C12-C13 stretch motions in the model compound or in bovine rhodopsin are altered in octopus rhodopsin so that the stretch motion of the C14-15 bond is more localized, similar to the C-C stretch motion in the small Schiff base model compound. In clear contrast with the bovine rhodopsin Raman spectrum, which is very similar to that for the 11-cis-retinal Schiff base, the drastically different octopus rhodopsin spectrum indicates large protein perturbations on the C11=C12-C13 moiety, either by steric or by electrostatic interactions. Further studies are required to determine if such spectral differences indicate a difference of the energy conversion mechanism in the primary photochemical event of these two pigments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, City College of City University of New York, New York 10031, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koutalos
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ebrey
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Groesbeek
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lugtenburg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsuda
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Callender
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D002417:Cattle; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D049831:Octopodiformes; D012243:Rhodopsin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry*; D012545:Schiff Bases / Q000737:chemistry; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman
chemical_list: D012545:Schiff Bases; C042882:isorhodopsin; C015017:bathorhodopsin; D002244:Carbon; D012243:Rhodopsin; D009584:Nitrogen