"Vision" in single-celled algae.

Photosynthetic unicellular algae have a unique visual system. In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the pigmented eye comprises the optical system and at least five different rhodopsin photoreceptors. Two of them, the channelrhodopsins, are rhodopsin-ion channel hybrids switched between closed and open states by photoisomerization of the attached retinal chromophore. They promise to become a useful tool for noninvasive control of membrane potential and intracellular ion concentrations.

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