A light-driven sodium ion pump in marine bacteria

Keiichi Inoue, Hikaru Ono, Rei Abe-Yoshizumi, Susumu Yoshizawa, Hiroyasu Ito, Kazuhiro Kogure and Hideki Kandori ()
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Keiichi Inoue: Nagoya Institute of Technology
Hikaru Ono: Nagoya Institute of Technology
Rei Abe-Yoshizumi: Nagoya Institute of Technology
Susumu Yoshizawa: Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo
Hiroyasu Ito: Nagoya Institute of Technology
Kazuhiro Kogure: Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo
Hideki Kandori: Nagoya Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Light-driven proton-pumping rhodopsins are widely distributed in many microorganisms. They convert sunlight energy into proton gradients that serve as energy source of the cell. Here we report a new functional class of a microbial rhodopsin, a light-driven sodium ion pump. We discover that the marine flavobacterium Krokinobacter eikastus possesses two rhodopsins, the first, KR1, being a prototypical proton pump, while the second, KR2, pumps sodium ions outward. Rhodopsin KR2 can also pump lithium ions, but converts to a proton pump when presented with potassium chloride or salts of larger cations. These data indicate that KR2 is a compatible sodium ion–proton pump, and spectroscopic analysis showed it binds sodium ions in its extracellular domain. These findings suggest that light-driven sodium pumps may be as important in situ as their proton-pumping counterparts.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2689

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