Opsin vs opsin: new materials for biotechnological applications

The need of new diagnostic methods satisfying, as an early detection, a low invasive procedure and a cost-efficient value, is orienting the technological research toward the use of bio-integrated devices, in particular bio-sensors. The set of know-why necessary to achieve this goal is wide, from biochemistry to electronics and is summarized in an emerging branch of electronics, called proteotronics. Proteotronics is here here applied to state a comparative analysis of the electrical responses coming from type-1 and type-2 opsins. In particular, the procedure is used as an early investigation of a recently discovered family of opsins, the proteorhodopsins activated by blue light, BPRs. The results reveal some interesting and unexpected similarities between proteins of the two families, suggesting the global electrical response are not strictly linked to the class identity.