Short Communication - International Research Journal of Biochemistry and Bioinformatics ( 2021) Volume 11, Issue 3
Published: 28-Jun-2021
Bacteriorhodopsin is a light-driven proton pump which has long been used as a model system in biophysics. The mechanism by which light-driven isomerization of a retinal chromophore is coupled to the transport of protons †œup-hill†• against a transmembrane proton concentration gradient involves protein structural changes.
Collaborative studies performed at SACLA (the Japanese XFEL) have probed structural changes in microcrystals on a time-scale from nanoseconds to milliseconds.
Structural results from these studies enabled a complete picture of structural changes occurring during proton pumping by bacteriorhodopsin to be recovered