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Quantum efficiency of native and mutant bacteriorhodopsin obtained from blue light induced relaxation experiments

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Abstract

Bacteriorhodopsin was continuously excited with green background light. In this way a steady state distribution of all intermediates of the photocycle was obtained. Then a perturbation of the system was induced by a blue laser flash and the resulting absorption changes were measured. The experiments were done with native bacteriorhodopsin and with the point mutant BR Asp96→Asn , in which aspartate 96 is changed to asparagine. Blue light induced relaxation experiments revealed a rate constant belonging to the excitation of bacteriorhodopsin by the green background. With this rate constant the quantum efficiency of native bacteriorhodopsin and of BR Asp96→Asn was determined to be 0.60 ± 0.10. Signals obtained with native bacteriorhodopsin could be explained with a simple model of the photocycle consisting of three consecutive intermediates BR 568, L 550 and M 412. To describe the behavior of BR Asp96→Asn , a further photoactive intermediate after the M 412 state had to be postulated. Properties of this intermediate are similar to those of the N 550 state.

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  1. H.-J. Butt

    Present address: Department of Physics, University of California, 93106, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

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  1. Max-Planck-Institut fur Biophysik, Kennedy-Allee 70, D-6000, Frankfurt, Federal Republic of Germany

    H.-J. Butt

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Butt, HJ. Quantum efficiency of native and mutant bacteriorhodopsin obtained from blue light induced relaxation experiments. Eur Biophys J 19, 31–39 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00223571

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00223571

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