抄録
Rhodopsins are photoreceptive membrane proteins
using retinal chromophore. Two large families of
rhodopsins, animal and microbial rhodopsins, were
known so far, and they are used by diverse animals and
microorganisms, respectively. In contrast, Asgard
archaea are living prokaryotes which is being
considered to be closest to the last common ancestor
between prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and they were not
thought to use light for their survival. However, we
have recently discovered many rhodopsins in their
metagenome-assembled genomes. In particular, one of
them, schizorhodopsin, is revealed to be a new
rhodopsin family which functions as a light-driven
inward proton pump. In this review, we will introduce
the history of rhodopsins and our studies on the
rhodopsins of Asgard archaea.
