Preparation of a gene-engineering mutant of bacteriorhodopsin BR-D96V and corresponding poly(vinyl alcohol)-based functional composite films

Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) exhibits, as a membrane protein in Halobacterium salinarum, unique photoresponsive behaviors, and shows promise as a functional information material. A new mutant of BR with the 96th aspartic acid replaced by valine (BR-D96V) was obtained and then a composite film of BR-D96V in a synthetic polymer matrix was prepared in this research. The mutant BR-D96V was expressed in a bacterio-opsin deficient halobacterial strain (L33) by gene engineering. Although valine is very hydrophobic, this point mutant keeps the basic biological activities, namely, photoelectric and photochromic responses. Nevertheless, the lifetime of M intermediate in the BR mutant is nearly two orders of magnitude longer than that of wild-type BR in neutral aqueous solution, which benefits its potential application as an information material. The M lifetime is further significantly prolonged after embedding BR-D96V into poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). It was also found that BR-D96V is very sensitive to water content in comparison with wild-type BR and another BR mutant.