Light-induced structural changes in the LOV2 domain of Adiantum phytochrome3 studied by low-temperature FTIR and UV-visible spectroscopy

Phototropin (Phot) is a blue-light receptor in plants. The molecule has two FMN (flavin mononucleotide) binding domains named LOV (light-, oxygen-, and voltage-sensing), which is a subset of the PAS (Per-Arnt-Sim) superfamily. Illumination of the phot-LOV domains in the dark state (13447) produces a covalent C(4a) flavin-cysteinyl adduct (S390) via a triplet excited state (L660), which reverts to D447 in the dark. In this work, we studied the light-induced structural changes in the LOV2 domain of Adiantum phytochrome3 (phy3), which is a fusion protein of phot containing the phytochrome chromophoric domain, by low-temperature UV-visible and FTIR spectroscopy. UV-visible spectroscopy detected only one intermediate state, S390, in the temperature range from 77 to 295 K, indicating that the adduct is produced even at temperatures as low as 77 K, although a portion of D447 cannot be converted to S390 at low temperatures possibly because of motional freezing. In the whole temperature range, FTIR spectra in the S-H stretching frequency region showed that Cys966 of phy3-LOV2 is protonated in D447 and unprotonated on illumination, supporting adduct formation. The pK(a) of the S-H group in D447 is estimated to be > 10. FTIR spectra also showed the light-induced appearance of a positive peak around 3621 cm(-1) in the whole temperature range, indicating that adduct formation accompanies rearrangement of a hydrogen bond of a water molecule(s), which can be either water25, water45, or both, near the chromophore. In contrast to the weak temperature dependence of the spectral changes in the UV-visible absorption and the FTIR of both S-H and O-H stretching bands, light-induced changes in the amide I vibration that probes protein backbone structure vary significantly with the increase in temperature. The spectral changes suggest that light excitation of FMN loosens the local structure around it, particularly in turns, in the early stages and that another change subsequently takes place to tighten it, mainly in beta-structure, but some occur in the alpha-helical structure of the protein moiety as well. Interestingly, these changes proceed without altering the shape of UV-visible spectra, suggesting the presence of multiple conformation states in S390.