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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Mech Phys Solids. 2012 Jun 1;60(6):1158–1178. doi: 10.1016/j.jmps.2012.02.004

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Three-state model for the channelrhodopsin photocycle. Upon photo absorption, molecules in the closed state gclosed undergo a fast transition into the open state gChR2. The molecules spontaneously turn into the refractory state grefrac where the ion channels are closed, but the molecules are not yet ready to photoswitch again. After the refractory period, the molecules return to the closed state gclosed, ready to undergo a new photocycle when subjected to light [32, 33].