Mechanism of colour discrimination by a bacterial sensory rhodopsin
Spudich, J.L.; Bogomolni, R.A.
Nature 312(5994): 509-513
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-0836 PMID: 6504161 Document Number: 227183
A photosensitive protein resembling the visual pigments of invertebrates enables phototactic archaebacteria to distinguish color. This protein exists in 2 spectrally-distinct forms, one of which is a transient photoproduct of the other and each of which undergoes photochemical reactions controlling the cell's swimming behavior. Activation of a single pigment molecule in the cell is sufficient to signal the flagellar motor. This signal-transduction mechanism makes evident a color-sensing capability inherent in the retinal/protein chromophore.