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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Aug 20.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Chem Biol. 2020 Aug 13;27(8):904–920. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2020.07.022

Figure 5. Light-harvesting proteins use unique chromophores to convert light energy to chemical energy.

Figure 5.

(top) Channelrhodopsins comprise covalently bound retinal chromophores. Retinal isomerizes when illuminated with blue light, driving the channel pore to open. (bottom) LOV domains comprise noncovalently bound flavins chromophores. When excited with 460 nm light, flavin can be trapped by a nearby cysteine. The resulting conformational change initiates signal transduction.