Halorhodopsin
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Halorhodopsin is a seven-transmembrane retinylidene protein from microbial rhodopsin family. It is a chloride-specific light-activated ion pump found in archaea known as halobacteria. It is activated
Halorhodopsin Cartoon Visualization by Jawahar Swaminathan and MSD staff at the European Bioinformatics Institute
Retinal
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Retinal is a polyene chromophore. It binds to opsin proteins and forms the chemical basis of visual phototransduction, the light-detection stage of visual perception.
Halorhodopsin
…similarity to channelrhodopsin, a light-gated ion channel. Halorhodopsin contains the essential light-isomerizable vitamin A derivative all-trans-retinal. Due to the dedication towards discovering the structure and function of this moleculc, halorhodopsin is one of the few membrane proteins whose crystal…
An opsin protein surrounds a molecule of 11-cis retinal, awaiting the arrival of a photon. Once the retinal molecule captures a photon, its configuration change causes it to push against the surrounding opsin protein which may cause the opsin to send a chemical signal to the brain indicating that light has been detected. Retinal is then converted back to its 11-cis configuration by ATP phosphorylation, and the cycle begins again.