The genus Natronomonas contains two species, one haloalkaliphile (N. pharaonis) and one neutrophile (N. moolapensis). Here, we report the genome sequence of N. moolapensis strain 8.8.11. The overall genome properties are similar for the two species. Only the neutrophile contains bacteriorhodopsin and a membrane glycolipid.

A vibrational force field for the polypeptide chain has been developed for normal-mode analysis of such molecules. I t can reproduce observed frequencies of known structures to within about 5 cm-l. We review the application of this technique to conformational problems in peptides (@-turns and their model compounds), polypeptides [the aII-helix and crystalline poly(g1ycine II)], and proteins (ba...

For the first time, a multilayered WO(3) x H(2)O/PVA membrane on bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is constructed to significantly enhance the photoelectric response of bR by the spillover effect of WO(3) x H(2)O nanocrystals, providing great potential in its important applications in bioelectronics and proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

Using videomicroscopy we present measurements of the fluctuation spectrum of giant vesicles containing bacteriorhodopsin pumps. When the pumps are activated, we observe a significant increase of the fluctuations in the low wave vector region, which we interpret as due to a lowering of the effective tension of the membrane.

Retinal proteins are membrane-bound protein pigments that contain vitamin A aldehyde (retinal) as the chromophore. They include the visual pigment rhodopsin and four additional ones in the plasma membrane of Halobacterium salinarium (formerly Halobacterium halobium ). These proteins maintain a ®xed and asymmetric orientation in the membranes, and respond to a light stimulus by generating vector...

Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) is a retinal protein that is a light-driven proton pump and has an important role in photosynthesis in archaebacterium Halobacterium salinarum. The BR molecule absorbs light and photochemical changes occur in it, and different intermediates will be produced in its photochemical cycle that some of them like P and Q intermediates have a long half-life. There have been many ...

The positions of protons are not available in most high-resolution structural data of biomolecules, thus the identity of proton storage sites in biomolecules that transport proton is generally difficult to determine unambiguously. Using combined quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical computations, we demonstrate that a pair of conserved glutamate residues (Glu 194/204) bonded by a delocalized ...

z The results published by Kandt, Schlitter, and Gerwert in a recent issue of Biophysical Journal (Kandt et al., 2004) on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of bacteriorhodopsin (bR) trimer in a water/lipid environment represent a new and valuable step in the field of bacteriorhodopsin modeling and, more generally, in the developing field of simulations of fully integrated and functional membr...

The planarity of the polyene chain of the retinal chromophore in bacteriorhodopsin is studied using molecular dynamics simulation techniques and applying different force-field parameters and starting crystal structures. The largest deviations from a planar structure are observed for the C(13)==C(14) and C(15)==N(16) double bonds in the retinal Schiff base structure. The other dihedral angles al...