"Vision" in single-celled algae.
Photosynthetic unicellular algae have a unique visual system. In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the pigmented eye comprises the optical system and at least five different rhodopsin photoreceptors. Two of them, the channelrhodopsins, are rhodopsin-ion channel hybrids switched between closed and open states by photoisomerization of the attached retinal chromophore. They promise to become a useful tool for noninvasive control of membrane potential and intracellular ion concentrations.
Kateriya
Suneel
S
Institut für Biochemie, Universität Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg, Germany.
Nagel
Georg
G
Bamberg
Ernst
E
Hegemann
Peter
P
D000818:Animals; D002696:Chlamydomonas / Q000502:physiology*; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000502:physiology*; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D012243:Rhodopsin / Q000502:physiology*
D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; D012243:Rhodopsin