Characterization of a Xanthorhodopsin-homologue from the North Pole

Abstract

Rhodopsins belong to a family of membrane-embedded photoactive retinylidene proteins. One opsin gene was isolated from <TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>-proteobacterium (IMCC9480) which had been collected at the North Pole. It is very similar to Xanthorhodopin (XR) of HTCC2181. In this study, we carried out basic characterization of the rhodopsin. It has <TEX>${\lambda}max$</TEX> of 536, 554, and 546 nm at pH 4.0, 7.0, and 10.0, respectively. Since the pKa of its proton acceptor is around 6.27, we measured its proton pumping activity and photocycling rate at pH 8.0. It has a typical proton acceptor (D99) and donor (E110) which mediate proton translocation from intracellular to extracellular region when deduced from the sequence alignments. On the basis of in vitro proton pumping activity, it was proposed to have fast photocycling rate with M and O intermediates, indicating that it is a typical ion-pumping rhodopsin. Since the XR has not yet been expressed in any other heterologous expression system, we tried to get much more information about the XR through the XR-homologue rhodopsin.