Species Widely Distributed in Halophilic Archaea Exhibit Opsin-Mediated Inhibition of Bacterioruberin Biosynthesis.

ABSTRACT: Halophilic Archaea are a distinctive pink color due to a carotenoid pigment called bacterioruberin. To sense or utilize light, many halophilic Archaea also produce rhodopsins, complexes of opsin proteins with a retinal prosthetic group. Both bacterioruberin and retinal are synthesized from isoprenoid precursors, with lycopene as the last shared intermediate. We previously described a regulatory mechanism by which Halobacterium salinarum bacterioopsin and Haloarcula vallismortis cruxopsin inhibit bacterioruberin synthesis catalyzed by lycopene elongase. In this work, we found that opsins in all three major Halobacteria clades inhibit bacterioruberin synthesis, suggesting that this regulatory mechanism existed in the common Halobacteria ancestor. Hal

SUBMITTER: Peck RF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6304663 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature