Abstract: Photoreceptor proteins, are light-sensitive proteins involved in the sensing and response to light in a variety of organisms. From a technological viewpoint they represent biological light converters. Hence, they are successfully utilized in a number of technological applications, e.g. optogenetics and bioimaging. In this seminar, I will present our work on a new family of such proteins, named cyanobacteriochromes. Using multiscale simulations we studied the spectral tuning mechanism in this family and their reactivity in the excited state.[1,2] In the second part of the seminar I will present how multiscale simulation can provide a mechanistic insight and ideally complement time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography that became possible using free-electron laser facilities (XFEL).[3,4]

[1] Wiebeler C., Rao A. G., Gaertner W., Schapiro I. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2019, 58(7), 1934.

[2] Slavov C., et al. PNAS, 2020, 117(28), 16356.

[3] Nogly P., et al. Science, 2018, 361(6398), eaat0094.

[4] Skopintsev P., et al. Nature, 2020, 583(7815), 314.