title: Membrane potential modulates photocycling rates of bacterial rhodopsins.
abstract: Effects of membrane potential on photochemical reactions of three retinal-containing chromoproteins in Halobacterium halobium, sensory rhodopsin I (sR-I), bacteriorhodopsin, and halorhodopsin, are described. Each of the three exhibits a decreased rate of thermal decay of its principal intermediate when photoactivated in an artificially energized compared to a deenergized membrane. The similar response of the three pigments suggests a voltage-dependent conformational change common to their respective photocycles. Spectral and kinetic properties of the sR-I photochemical reaction cycle were measured in phototactic H. halobium cells, and differences from in vitro photocycle kinetics were attributable to the electrical membrane potential present in vivo. In vivo sR-I photocycling rates were reproduced in envelope vesicle preparations in the presence of a valinomycin-induced potassium diffusion potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Manor
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Hasselbacher
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Spudich
mesh_terms: D006217:Halobacterium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects*; D008027:Light; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000528:radiation effects; D010777:Photochemistry; D012168:Retinal Pigments / Q000528:radiation effects*; D012243:Rhodopsin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects*
chemical_list: D012168:Retinal Pigments; D012243:Rhodopsin