In nature, proteins commonly function as energy transducing machinery, converting solar energy to chemical or electrical energy. In its natural forward reaction, cytochrome c oxidase accepts an electron from cytochrome c to form water from the translocation of protons to combine with oxygen. We have shown that by coupling cytochrome c oxidase with bacteriorhodopsin, a light-dependent proton pump, in a biomimetic triblock copolymer membrane, we can partially reverse cytochrome c oxidase activity to serve as an electron donor to oxidized cytochrome c. We have demonstrated nanoampere-range current switching in response to exposure to light
['Benjamin Chu', 'Dean Ho', 'Hyeseung Lee', 'Karen Kuo', 'Carlo D. Montemagno']
Coupled-protein functionality for energy conversion in biomimetic systems