Light-driven ion-translocating rhodopsins in marine bacteria

Microbial rhodopsins are the photoreceptive membrane proteins found in diverse microorganisms from within Archaea, Eubacteria, and eukaryotes. They have a hep-tahelical transmembrane structure that binds to an all-trans retinal chromophore. Since 2000, thousands of proteorhodopsins, genes of light-driven proton pump rhodopsins, have been identified from various species of marine bacteria. This suggests that they are used for the conversion of...