Heliorhodopsin Evolution Is Driven by Photosensory Promiscuity in Monoderms.

ABSTRACT: Rhodopsins are light-activated proteins displaying an enormous versatility of function as cation/anion pumps or sensing environmental stimuli and are widely distributed across all domains of life. Even with wide sequence divergence and uncertain evolutionary linkages between microbial (type 1) and animal (type 2) rhodopsins, the membrane orientation of the core structural scaffold of both was presumed universal. This was recently amended through the discovery of heliorhodopsins (HeRs; type 3), that, in contrast to known rhodopsins, display an inverted membrane topology and yet retain similarities in sequence, structure, and the light-activated response. While no ion-pumping activity has been demonstrated for HeRs and multiple crystal structures are available, fundamental questions regardin

SUBMITTER: Bulzu PA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8612252 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature