Journal article

Femtosecond to Millisecond Dynamics of Light Induced Allostery in the Avena sativa LOV Domain

AA Gil, SP Laptenok, JB French, JN Iuliano, A Lukacs, CR Hall, IV Sazanovich, GM Greetham, A Bacher, B Illarionov, M Fischer, PJ Tonge, SR Meech

Journal of Physical Chemistry B | AMER CHEMICAL SOC | Published : 2017

Abstract

The rational engineering of photosensor proteins underpins the field of optogenetics, in which light is used for spatiotemporal control of cell signaling. Optogenetic elements function by converting electronic excitation of an embedded chromophore into structural changes on the microseconds to seconds time scale, which then modulate the activity of output domains responsible for biological signaling. Using time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy coupled with isotope labeling, we have mapped the structural evolution of the LOV2 domain of the flavin binding phototropin Avena sativa (AsLOV2) over 10 decades of time, reporting structural dynamics between 100 fs and 1 ms after optical excitation. ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences


Funding Acknowledgements

S.R.M. and P.J.T. are grateful to EPSRC (EP/G002916 and EP/N033647/1) and NSF (CHE-1223819) for funding and STFC for facility access. A.L. is a Bolyai Janos Research Fellow and was supported by OTKA NN113090. J.N.I. was supported by the chemistry biology interface training grant T32GM092714. We are grateful to Prof. Ray Owens and Dr Anil Verma for assistance with protein preparation and access to the Oxford Protein production Facility, U.K.