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Heliorhodopsin is a family of discovered in 2018 by Alina Pushkarev in the laboratory of Professor Oded Beja. The new family of heliorhodopsins has a distinct protein sequence from known Type 1 (microbial) and Type 2 (animal) rhodopsins. Heliorhodopsins also exhibit the reverse orientation in the membrane compared with the other rhodopsins, with the N-terminus facing the inside of the cell and the C-terminus outside the cell.
Heliorhodopsins use all-trans retinal as a chromophore, and do not have any ion pumping activity across the membrane. Heliorhodopsins are distributed globally and exist in , and even some . Despite the wide distribution, Heliorhodopsins are never present in true diderms, where there is a proper double membrane around the microorganism. It has been suggested that the function of Heliorhodopsin requires a direct interaction with the environment.
Crystal structures of Heliorhodopsins suggest they form a homodimer, contain a fenestration leading toward the retinal molecule and have a large extracellular loop facing the outside of the cell.
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