Rhodopsin-bestrophin fusion proteins from unicellular algae form gigantic pentameric ion channels

  • Andrey Rozenberg
  • , Igor Kaczmarczyk
  • , Donna Matzov
  • , Johannes Vierock
  • , Takashi Nagata
  • , Masahiro Sugiura
  • , Kota Katayama
  • , Yuma Kawasaki
  • , Masae Konno
  • , Yujiro Nagasaka
  • , Mako Aoyama
  • , Ishita Das
  • , Efrat Pahima
  • , Jonathan Church
  • , Suliman Adam
  • , Veniamin A. Borin
  • , Ariel Chazan
  • , Sandra Augustin
  • , Jonas Wietek
  • , Julien Dine
  • Yoav Peleg, Akira Kawanabe, Yuichiro Fujiwara, Ofer Yizhar, Mordechai Sheves, Igor Schapiro, Yuji Furutani, Hideki Kandori, Keiichi Inoue, Peter Hegemann, Oded Béjà*, Moran Shalev-Benami*
*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

Many organisms sense light using rhodopsins, photoreceptive proteins containing a retinal chromophore. Here we report the discovery, structure and biophysical characterization of bestrhodopsins, a microbial rhodopsin subfamily from marine unicellular algae, in which one rhodopsin domain of eight transmembrane helices or, more often, two such domains in tandem, are C-terminally fused to a bestrophin channel. Cryo-EM analysis of a rhodopsin-rhodopsin-bestrophin fusion revealed that it forms a pentameric megacomplex (~700 kDa) with five rhodopsin pseudodimers surrounding the channel in the center. Bestrhodopsins are metastable and undergo photoconversion between red- and green-absorbing or green- and UVA-absorbing forms in the different variants. The retinal chromophore, in a unique binding pocket, photoisomerizes from all-trans to 11-cis form. Heterologously expressed bestrhodopsin behaves as a light-modulated anion channel.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)592-603
Number of pages12
JournalNature Structural and Molecular Biology
Volume29
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Rhodopsin-bestrophin fusion proteins from unicellular algae form gigantic pentameric ion channels'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this