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. 1985 Apr;47(4):509–512. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(85)83944-8

Trans/13-cis isomerization is essential for both the photocycle and proton pumping of bacteriorhodopsin.

C H Chang, R Govindjee, T Ebrey, K A Bagley, G Dollinger, L Eisenstein, J Marque, H Roder, J Vittitow, J M Fang, et al.
PMCID: PMC1435125  PMID: 2985136

Abstract

We studied an analogue of bacteriorhodopsin whose chromophore is based on all-trans retinal. A five-membered ring was built around the 13-14 double bond so as to prohibit trans to 13-cis isomerization. No light-induced photochemical changes were seen, other than those due to a small amount (approximately 5%) of unbleached bacteriorhodopsin remaining in the apomembrane used for regeneration. The techniques used included flash photolysis at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures and Fourier-transform infrared difference spectroscopy. When the trans-fixed pigment was incorporated into phospholipid vesicles, no evidence of light-initiated proton pumping could be found. The results indicate that trans to 13-cis isomerization is essential for the photochemical transformation and function of bacteriorhodopsin.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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