Shining light on rhodopsin selectivity: How do proteins decide whether to transport H⁺ or Cl^-?

ABSTRACT: The versatile microbial rhodopsin family performs a variety of biological tasks using a highly conserved architecture, making it difficult to understand the mechanistic basis for different functions. Besaw et al. now report structures of a recently discovered cyanobacterial Cl^--pumping rhodopsin and its functionally divergent mutant that reveal how these transmembrane proteins create a gradient of activity with subtle changes. These insights are paralleled by a second recent report, which in combination answers long-standing questions about rhodopsin selectivity and will facilitate future engineering efforts.

SUBMITTER: Inoue K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7606678 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature