Pigments 'photosynthesize' without CO2: Halobacteria

Rhodopsin pigments of halobacteria produce chemical energy without CO2 by capturing light energy and using it to pump protons out of the cell, setting up a proton gradient used to generate ATP.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

	Make >
	Generate/convert energy >
	Chemical energy

Biomimetic Application Ideas

Source of solar energy

[Collapse all sections] Summary

"Pumps and selective uptake devices need fuel - biological energy - and halobacteria, unlike Dunaliella, are not able to photosynthesise energy-yielding organic matter from carbon dioxide. They need pre-formed organic matter as food, and supplies of this are likely to be intermittent. However, their membranes do possess a unique way of obtaining energy from light. In their membranes are patches of purple pigments called rhodopsins. These are light-sensitive. Actually, they are chemically related to pigments in the retinas of our eyes, the light receptors which enable us to see. Not that halobacteria can see; in their case the pigments capture light energy and use it to generate a substance called ATP, which is the universal source of biological energy in cells…In the process of generating ATP, ions are swapped between the interior and exterior of the cell such that most of the sodium ends up outside and potassium is retained: light helps the ion pump work. This is a special kind of energy-generating photosynthesis, unaccompanied by carbon dioxide fixation, and halobacteria are the only organisms in which it is known." (Postgate 1994:49)

About the inspiring organism

Halobacteria
Halobacteria

Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Source of solar energy.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Energy

References

Postgate, JR. 1994. The outer reaches of life. Cambridge (Great Britain): Cambridge University Press. 276 p.

Béjà, O.; Aravind, L.; Koonin, E.V.; Suzuki, M.T.; Hadd, A.; Nguyen, L.P.; Jovanovich, S.B.; Gates, C.M.; Feldman, R.A.; Spudich, J.L.; Spudich, E.N.; DeLong, E.F. 2000. Bacterial rhodopsin: evidence for a new type of phototrophy in the sea. Science. 289(5486): 1902-1906.

Pigments 'photosynthesize' without CO2: Halobacteria

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