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Mechanism of colour discrimination by a bacterial sensory rhodopsin

Nature volume 312, pages 509–513 (1984)Cite this article

Abstract

A photosensitive protein resembling the visual pigments of invertebrates enables phototactic archaebacteria to distinguish colour. This protein exists in two spectrally-distinct forms, one of which is a transient photoproduct of the other and each of which undergoes photochemical reactions controlling the cell's swimming behaviour. Activation of a single pigment molecule in the cell is sufficient to signal the flagellar motor. This signal-transduction mechanism makes evident a colour-sensing capability inherent in the retinal/protein chromophore.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy and Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, 10461

    John L. Spudich

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California, 94143, USA

    Roberto A. Bogomolni

Authors
  1. John L. Spudich
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  2. Roberto A. Bogomolni
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Spudich, J., Bogomolni, R. Mechanism of colour discrimination by a bacterial sensory rhodopsin. Nature 312, 509–513 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/312509a0

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