Ultrafast Photoinduced Deactivation Dynamics of Proteorhodopsin.

We report femtosecond time-resolved absorption change measurements of the photoinduced deactivation dynamics of a microbial rhodopsin in the ultraviolet-visible and mid-infrared range. The blue light quenching process is recorded in green proteorhodopsin's (GPR) primary proton donor mutant E108Q from the deprotonated 13-cis photointermediate. The return of GPR to the dark state occurs in two steps, starting with the photoinduced 13-cis to all-trans reisomerization of the retinal. The subsequent Schiff base reprotonation via the primary proton acceptor (D97) occurs on a nanosecond time scale. This step is two orders of magnitude faster than that in bacteriorhodopsin, potentially because of the very high pKA of the GPR primary proton acceptor.