Leptosphaeria rhodopsin: Bacteriorhodopsin-like proton pump from a eukaryote

作者：Stephen A. Waschuk, Arandi Ginane Bezerra, Lichi Shi, Leonid S. Brown · 发表于：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 年份：2005 · DOI：10.1073/pnas.0409659102 · 被引用次数：234 · 研究领域：Photoreceptor and optogenetics research、Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research、Neuroscience and Neural Engineering

Bacteriorhodopsin-like proteins provide archaea and eubacteria with a unique bioenergetic pathway comprising light-driven transmembrane proton translocation by a single retinal-binding protein. Recently, homologous proteins were found to perform photosensory functions in lower eukaryotes, but no active ion transport by eukaryotic rhodopsins was detected. By demonstrating light-driven proton pumping in a fungal rhodopsin from Leptosphaeria maculans, we present a case of a retinal-based proton transporter from a eukaryote. This result implies that in addition to oxidative phosphorylation and chlorophyll photosynthesis, some lower eukaryotes may have retained the archaeal route of building an electrochemical transmembrane gradient of protons.