Bacteriorhodopsin

Halobacterium halobium

Resides in hypertonic environments (shallow waters of San

Francisco bay)
Diatomic oxygen is plentiful = OXPHOS
Diatomic oxygen unavailable = LIGHT HARVESTING
Achieved by Bacteriorhodopsin, a 26 KD protein with all-transretinal attached

LIGHT IS CONVERTED DIRECTLY INTO A H+ MOTIVE FORCE

hv

H+

H+

+++++++

F0F1 ATPase

--------ATP

Retinal is bound to Lysine

H+ pumping

Photocycle

The energy trapping conformational

transition occurs within one ps
Deprotonation and reprotonation steps
are characterized by intermediates which
contain distinct absorption spectra
One full turn of the cycle occurs within a
ms
Hence each step has a characteristic
colour
Every sec, 50 protons are exported
One question remainshow does the
light induced isomerization of this
protein drive H+ translocation

Bacteriorhodopsin is a Dynamic, Transmembrane

Protein
Several transmem spanning helices
3 Tyr hold the BR in place

Retinal sits at the junction separating the two

half channels

Notice the Bacteriorhodopsin is surronded

by Asp and Arg

Aspartate and Arginine are involved in the translocation

process