2010
Volume 10, Number 1, p.p. 5–15
Excitation of the intermediates of bacteriorhodopsin and its mutants
L. Keszthelyi1, 2, *
1Institute of Biophysics, Biological Research Centre, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P. O. B. 521, Szeged, H-6701 Hungary
2KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O.B. 49, Budapest, H-1525 Hungary
In the last 30 years large number of studies have been devoted to understand the proton pumping mechanism of bacteriorhodopsin. Among them a substantial part dealt with the excitation of the photocycle intermediates. In this paper recent progress, based mainly on photoelectric measurements, is reviewed. The data show that results for excitation of all intermediates (except J) are already available for further use, to: better understand the mechanism of the photocyle; apply bacteriorhodopsin in photoelectric devices; and figure out how the microörganism avoid the deleterious effects of very strong sunshine illumination.
Keywords: bioelectronics, bioregulation, buffer effect, orientation, photoelectric measurement, purple membrane