title: "Vision" in single-celled algae.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Biochemie, Universität Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Suneel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kateriya
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nagel
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bamberg
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hegemann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002696:Chlamydomonas / Q000502:physiology*; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000502:physiology*; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D012243:Rhodopsin / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; D012243:Rhodopsin