title: Halorhodopsin: light-driven ion pumping made simple?
abstract: Halorhodopsin, a light-driven halide pump, is the second archaeal rhodopsin involved in ion pumping to be studied at high resolution by X-ray crystallography. Like its cousin bacteriorhodopsin, halorhodopsin couples vectorial ion transport to the isomerisation state of a covalently linked retinal. Given the similarity and interconvertability of these two ion pumps, a unified mechanism for ion translocation by archaeal rhodopsins is now emerging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Philipps University, Hans-Meerwein-Strasse, D-35032 Marburg, Germany. essen@chemie.uni-marburg.de
authors.forename: Lars-Oliver
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Essen
mesh_terms: D001693:Biological Transport, Active; D018118:Chloride Channels; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D025602:Halorhodopsins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects; D016623:Ion Pumps / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008027:Light; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D018118:Chloride Channels; D025602:Halorhodopsins; D016623:Ion Pumps