Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T21:48:28.313Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mutated Bacteriortiodopsins: Competitive Materials for Optical Information Processing?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

N. Hampp ,
C. Brauchte  and
D. Oesterhelt
Get access

Extract

In 1971, the first halobacterial retinal protein was discovered and named bacteriorhodopsin. Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) is a protein of 248 amino acids that is integrated into the bacterial membrane. It is a light driven pump, moving protons from the inside to the outside of the cell. The resulting gradient drives the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) for the organism. In the 1970s, rapidly growing research activities focused on the biochemical and biophysical properties of BR and resulted in a linearly increasing number of publications per year. The constant level of about 200 publications/year in the last decade signifies the steadily growing knowledge about the structure and bioenergetic function of BR and related molecules. Nowadays, BR is one of the best-investigated membrane proteins (e.g., References 3–10).

Only five years after the unusual chemical and photophysical properties of BR were reported, several articles appeared suggesting technical applications of BR for sunlight energy conversion. Although no commercial applications of BR have resulted from these studies, new ideas for application have arisen, covering about 10% of the total publications on BR during the last two years. Is this an indicator of real potential for BR as a biological material in technology?

Type
Biology and Materials Synthesis
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 17 , Issue 11 , November 1992 , pp. 56 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Oesterhelt, D. and Stoeckenius, W., Nature (London), New Biol. 233 (1971) p. 149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Blaurock, A.E. and Stoeckenius, W., Nature (London), New Biol. 233 (1971) p. 152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Betlach, M.C., Shand, R.F., and Leong, D.M., Can. J. Microbiol. 35 (1989) p. 134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Birge, R.A., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1016 (1990) p. 293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Henderson, R., Schertler, F.R.S. and Schertler, G.F.X., Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. B 326 (1990) p. 379.Google Scholar
6.Lanyi, J.K., Bacteria 12, edited by Krulwich, Terry, (Ann. Academic, San Diego, CA, 1990) p. 55.Google Scholar
7.Mathies, A.A., Lin, S.W., Ames, J.B. and Pollard, W.J., Annu. Rev. Biophys. Biophys. Chem. 20 (1991) p. 491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Tittor, J., Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 1 (1991) p. 534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Oesterhelt, D., Brauchle, C., and Hampp, N., Q. Rev. Biophys. 24 (1991) p. 425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Oesterhelt, D., Tittor, J., and Bamberg, E., J. Bioenerg. Biomembr. 24 (1992) p. 181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Hampp, N., Thoma, A., Zeisel, D., Brauchle, C., and Oesterhelt, D., Biomol. Electron, (in press).Google Scholar
12.Varo, G. and Lanyi, J.K., Biochem. 30 (1991) p. 5008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Miller, A. and Oesterhelt, D., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1020 (1990) p. 57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Lee, T.C., Rebholz, J., and Tamura, P., Opt. Lett. 4 (1979) p. 121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Hampp, N., Thoma, R., Oesterhelt, D., and Brauchle, C., Appl. Opt. 31 (1992) p. 1834.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Thoma, R. and Hampp, N., Opt. Lett. 17 (1992) p. 1158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Duthie, J.G. and Upatnieks, J., Opt. Eng. 23 (1984) p. 7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Loiseaux, B., Illiaquer, G., and Huignard, J.P.Opt. Eng. 24 (1985) p. 144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Gregory, D.A., Appl. Opt. 25 (1986) p. 467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Rajbenbach, H., Bann, S., and Huignard, J.P., in “Digest of Conference on Optical Computing” (Optical Society of America, Washington, D. C., 1991) paper TuD5.Google Scholar