Light-induced reactions of Escherichia coli DNA photolyase monitored by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Cyclobutane-type pyrimidine dimers generated by ultraviolet irradiation of DNA can be cleaved by DNA photolyase. The enzyme-catalysed reaction is believed to be initiated by the light-induced transfer of an electron from the anionic FADH- chromophore of the enzyme to the pyrimidine dimer. In this contribution, first infrared experiments using a novel E109A mutant of Escherichia coli DNA photolyase, which is catalytically active but unable to bind the second cofactor methenyltetrahydrofolate, are described. A stable blue-coloured form of the enzyme carrying a neutral FADH radical cofactor can be interpreted as an intermediate analogue of the light-driven DNA repair reaction and can be reduced to the enzymatically active FADH- form by red-light irradiation. Difference Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy was used to monitor vibronic bands of the blue radical form and of the fully reduced FADH- form of the enzyme. Preliminary band assignments are based on experiments with 15N-labelled enzyme and on experiments with D2O as solvent. Difference FT-IR measurements were also used to observe the formation of thymidine dimers by ultraviolet irradiation and their repair by light-driven photolyase catalysis. This study provides the basis for future time-resolved FT-IR studies which are aimed at an elucidation of a detailed molecular picture of the light-driven DNA repair process.