光電変換タンパク質チャネルロドプシンの動作メカニズム

抄録

Channelrhodopsins (ChRs), which were first identified from Chlamydomonas genome, are light-gated ion channels. Although ChRs are now widely applied for optogenetics in many biomedical fields such as neuroscience, the mechanisms are mostly unknown how the light absorption can gate the ion channel to be open. In this review, the photocurrent kinetics of ChRs is discussed in relation to the photocycle models. The glutamic acid residues uniquely present in B helix appear to regulate the flux of permeable cations. One of them, E97 would lie in the outer pore and interact with a cation to facilitate the dehydration.