QM/MM study of firefly bioluminescence
Résumé
The emitting light in fireflies arises from the electronic relaxation of oxyluciferin, an organic compound resulting from the oxidation
of the D-luciferin substrate inside an enzyme called luciferase. In order to theoretically study such systems, the use of quantum
mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) methods is required. Accurate QM level is needed for dealing with electronic transition
and charge transfer phenomena. Taking into account the surrounding protein at the MM level is essential in order to understand the
colour modulation and influence of the enzyme.
The present lecture will discuss some of the results obtained on this system with calculations done with the coupling of the programs
MOLCAS (CASPT2/CASSCF) or G09 (DFT) and TINKER (AMBER force field) and how the complementary of experimental data
and theoretical results can give understanding of such phenomenon.
The transition energy corresponding to a fluorescence experiment for the wild type emitter and a modified emitter will be presented.
Calculations give insights to decipher the emitter conformation even with a lack of experimental crystallographic structure. And
insights to explain the color modulation due to the surrounding environment.