In the photocycle of bacteriorhodopsin (bR), light-induced transfer of a proton from the Schiff base to an acceptor group located in the extracellular half of the protein, followed by reprotonation from the cytoplasmic side, are key steps in vectorial proton pumping. Between the deprotonation and reprotonation events, bR is in the M state. Diverse experiments undertaken to characterize the M st...

Photoinduced proton pumping in bateriorhodopsin (bR) was extensively studied using multiple experimental methods and utilizing various theoretical modelling approaches. These studies usually refer to the well-resolved structural data of bacteriorhodopsin. However, despite obtained results, origin force initiated by electronic excitation retinal remains questionable. Using quantum chemical calcu...

Autonomous production of biological energy is one of the primal processes in living cells. In cells, the bio-energy presents as adenosine or guanosine triphosphate (ATP or GTP) is used for the most of cellular reactions. ATP is produced through the glycolytic cycle by a series of dedicated enzymes in cytosol, or through the oxidative phosphorylation of adenosine diphosphate (ADP), operated by A...

Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) is a transmembrane protein which able to transport protons through cell membrane and thus converting solar energy to electrical energy. Up to now different strategies have been used to immobilize BR. In the present study the BR has been immobilized on polycarbonate surface with two different methods. The functional groups of polycarbonate were modified in two ways (sulfur...

Residue ionization states were calculated in nine crystal structures of bacteriorhodopsin trapped in bR, early M, and late M states by multiconformation continuum electrostatics. This combines continuum electrostatics and molecular mechanics, deriving equilibrium distributions of ionization states and polar residue and water positions. The three central cluster groups [retinal Schiff base (SB),...

A simple procedure for introducing functional exogenous membrane-bound proteins to viable cells encapsulated within a lipid templated silica nanostructure is described. In one method, bacteriorhodopsin (bR) was added directly to a Saccharomyces cerevisiae solution along with short zwitterionic diacylphosphatidylcholines (diC(6) PC) and mixed with equal volumes of a sol precursor solution. Alter...

The first proton transfer in the bacteriorhodopsin photocycle takes place during the L → M transition. Structural details of the pre proton transfer L intermediate have been investigated using experiments and computations. Here, we assess L-state structural models by performing hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical molecular dynamics and excitation energy calculations. The computations...

An optically addressed spatial light modulator based on a thin film of chemically enhanced bacteriorhodopsin is demonstrated. Incoherent-to-coherent light conversion is achieved by exploitation of both the large shift in absorption maxima accompanying the bR M phototransformation and the extended M-intermediate lifetime resulting from the chemical enhancement of the protein at high pH. The devi...

We experimentally and theoretically investigated the optical switching characteristics of bacteriorhodopsin (bR) at lambda=633 nm using the pump-probe method. A diode-pumped second harmonic YAG laser (lambda=532 nm which is located around the maximum initial Br state absorption) was used as a pumping beam and a cw He-Ne laser (lambda=633 nm which is around the peaks of K and O states) was used ...