2023 Volume 63 Issue 5 Pages 257-260
Schizorhodopsin (SzR) is a new family of light-driven inward proton-pumping rhodopsins discovered in the genomes of Asgard archaea. The genomic survey revealed the presence of SzR in a wide variety of environments including high-temperature waters. The X-ray crystallographic structure suggested that a convergent evolution occurred at the molecular level between SzR and xenorhodopsin, another inward proton-pumping rhodopsin. Interestingly, outward proton-pumping rhodopsin was converted to an inward proton pump by swapping only three residues in the retinal Schiff base region with corresponding ones of SzR, indicating the direction of proton transport is determined by this core region of rhodopsins.
