Biophysical, Mutational, and Functional Investigation of the Chromophore-Binding Pocket of Light-Oxygen-Voltage Photoreceptors

As light-regulated actuators, sensory photoreceptors underpin optogenetics and numerous applications in synthetic biology. Protein engineering has been applied to fine-tune the properties of photoreceptors and to generate novel actuators. For the blue-light-sensitive light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) photoreceptors, mutations near the flavin chromophore modulate response kinetics and the effective light responsiveness. To probe for potential, inadvertent effects on receptor activity, we introduced these mutations into the engineered LOV photoreceptor YF1 and determined their impact on light regulation. While several mutations severely impaired the dynamic range of the receptor (e.g., I39V, R63K, and N94A), residue substitutions in a second group were benign with little effect on regulation (e.g., V28T, N37C, and L82I). Electron paramagnetic resonance and absorption spectroscopy identified correlated effects for certain of the latter mutations on chromophore environment and response kinetics in YF1 and the LOV2 domain from Avena sativa phototropin 1. Carefully chosen mutations provide a powerful means to adjust the light-response function of photoreceptors as demanded for diverse applications.