title: Salt dependence of the formation and stability of the signaling state in G protein-coupled receptors: evidence for the involvement of the Hofmeister effect.
abstract: We studied the salt dependence of both the stability and the equilibrium of the late photoproducts metarhodopsin I (MI) and II (MII) of the artificial visual pigment 9-demethyl rhodopsin (9dm-Rho). In the photoproducts of 9dm-Rho, all-trans-9-demethyl retinal acts only as a partial agonist, enabling us to study the photoproduct equilibrium of the pigment both in membranes and in detergent micelles. Chloride, bromide, and phosphate salts shift this equilibrium from the inactive MI to the active MII receptor conformation both in native membranes and even more with purified pigment in detergent micelles. In the presence of these salts, the induced MII state seems to be structurally intact, as judged by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and UV-vis spectroscopy. In the long term, however, we observe an increased instability of the photoproducts and a change in the decay pathways. Both MII enhancement and destabilization are particularly pronounced with the strong chaotropic salts KI and KSCN. The results fit into the framework of the Hofmeister effect and are assigned to an increased solvation of the peptide moiety of the solvent-exposed domains, their resulting partial disordering favoring MII over MI. In this picture, increased solvation also affects helix-helix interactions, thereby leading to a structural instability of the protein in the long term. The reported influences of salts on conformation and stability of this membrane protein are likely to be general and may therefore also apply to other transmembrane proteins and particularly to other G protein-coupled receptors.
authors.affiliation: Sektion Biophysik, Institut für Molekulare Medizin und Zellforschung, Albert-Ludwig-Universität Freiburg, Albertstrasse 23, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany. vogelr@uni-freiburg.de
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sheves
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Siebert
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry; D003902:Detergents / Q000737:chemistry; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008823:Micelles; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D010777:Photochemistry; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012172:Retinaldehyde / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D012243:Rhodopsin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D012374:Rod Cell Outer Segment / Q000737:chemistry; D012492:Salts / Q000737:chemistry*; D012545:Schiff Bases; D015398:Signal Transduction; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000737:chemistry; D012997:Solvents; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: C030199:13-demethylisorhodopsin; C110176:9-demethylretinal; D003902:Detergents; D008823:Micelles; D012492:Salts; D012545:Schiff Bases; D012997:Solvents; D012965:Sodium Chloride; C013110:metarhodopsins; D012243:Rhodopsin; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins; D012172:Retinaldehyde