Discovery of a new light-driven Li+/Na+-pumping rhodopsin with DTG motif

Microbial pumping rhodopsin is a seven-transmembrane retinal binding protein, which is light-driven ion pump with a functional key motif. Ion-pumping with the key motif and charged amino acids in the rhodopsin is biochemically important. The rhodopsins with DTG motif have been discovered in various eubacteria, and they function as H+ pump. Especially, the DTG motif rhodopsins transported H+ despite the replacement of a proton donor by Gly. We investigated Methylobacterium populi rhodopsin (MpR) in one of the DTG motif rhodopsin clades. To determine which ions the MpR transport, we tested with various monovalent ion solutions and determined that MpR transports Li+/Na+. By replacing the three negatively charged residues residues which are located in helix B, Glu32, Glu33, and Asp35, we concluded that the residues play a critical role in the transport of Li+/Na+. The MpR E33Q transported H+ in place of Li+/Na+, suggesting that Glu33 is a Li+/Na+ binding site on the cytoplasmic side. Gly93 in MpR was replaced by Asp to convert from the Li+/Na+ pump to the H+ pump, resulting in MpR G93D transporting H+. Dissociation constant (Kd) values of Na+ for MpR WT and E33Q were determined to be 4.0 and 72.5 mM, respectively. These results indicated the mechanism by which MpR E33Q transports H+. Up to now, various ion-pumping rhodopsins have been discovered, and Li+/Na+-pumping rhodopsins were only found in the NDQ motif in NaR. Here, we report a new light-driven Na+ pump MpR and have determined the important residues required for Li+/Na+-pumping different from previously known NaR. [Display omitted] •MpR with DTG motif is a new type of Li+/Na+ pump.•Only one mutation in MpR can be converted from Li+/Na+-pumping to H+-pumping.•Glu33 residue is critical to Na+ binding.•Na+-pumping mechanism of MpR is different from previously reported NaR.