Structural insights into light harvesting by antenna-containing rhodopsins in marine Asgard archaea.

ABSTRACT: Aquatic bacterial rhodopsin proton pumps harvest light energy for photoheterotrophic growth and are known to contain hydroxylated carotenoids that expand the wavelengths of light utilized, but these have not been characterized in marine archaea. Here, by combining a marine chromophore extract with purified archaeal rhodopsins identified in marine metagenomes, we show light energy transfer from diverse hydroxylated carotenoids to heimdallarchaeial rhodopsins (HeimdallRs) from uncultured marine planktonic members of 'Candidatus Kariarchaeaceae' ('Candidatus Asgardarchaeota'). These light-harvesting antennas absorb in the blue-light range and transfer energy to the green-light-absorbing retinal chromophore within HeimdallRs, enabling the use of light that is otherwise unavailable to the rhodo

SUBMITTER: Tzlil G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12137139 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature