Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
👁️ Eye pigment 🔬 Light-sensitive protein
rhodopsin

rhodopsin

9.8
A protein from microbes or made in a lab that makes cells respond to light
  • noun
  • /roʊˈdɒpsɪn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : rhodopsina
  • Researchers are studying how rhodopsin enables bacteria to convert light into usable energy.

What is the potential for channel rhodopsins or related types of algae engineering to be used to manipulate the vagus?

Examples

  • Then marine microbiologist Ed DeLong, now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his colleagues reported finding a rhodopsin gene in an uncultured bacterium living in Monterey Bay.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Like the battery in a hybrid car, rhodopsin seems to provide the bacteria with a supplementary energy-generating system.

    Academic text (2004)

  • What is the potential for channel rhodopsins or related types of algae engineering to be used to manipulate the vagus?

    Andrew Huberman

  • Rhodopsin (Rho) is among the most well-characterized downstream effectors of the Rho family of small GTPases.

    Academic text (2018)

  • Scientists discovered that rhodopsin can be engineered to control cell activity with light.

  • In photoreceptor cells, rhodopsin plays a crucial role in detecting light and initiating vision.

Synonyms

opsin
vsrhodopsin
  • Specialized
9.9

A light-sensitive protein used in research to control cells with light

is a specific microbial or engineered form used to control or monitor cells
bacteriorhodopsin
vsrhodopsin
  • Specialized
9.9

A protein in some tiny living things that reacts to light to make energy

is broader, including engineered forms and nonmicrobial sources for cellular control

Surface Forms

rhodopsin singular
rhodopsins plural

Morphology

rhodopsin = opsin (opaque) = rhodo + opsin

The term combines the Greek combining form 'rhodo-' with the technical protein name 'opsin', which together form a domain-specific scientific label not transparent to general learners.

Etymology

Rhodopsin comes from Greek parts rhod- meaning 'red' and ops meaning 'eye', the same root behind optic. So scientists call certain light-sensitive proteins rhodopsin because they act like the eye's natural light detectors and can make other cells respond to light.