Biology Seminar: Babak Hassanzadeh
The sun is the ultimate source of energy for almost all forms of life on Earth, with about half of global primary productivity occurring in marine systems. While chlorophyll-based photosystems have been studied since the 19th century, the presence of rhodopsin (retinal-based) light harvesting complexes in marine environments was not known until the year 2000. Microbial rhodopsins are simple light-driven ion-pumps present in greater than 80% of the bacteria in the ocean’s photic zone and appear in all three domains of microbial life.