Oriented Nanoarchitectonics of Bacteriorhodopsin for Enhancing ATP Generation in a F F -ATPase-Based Assembly System.

Energy conversion plays an important role in the metabolism of photosynthetic organisms. Improving energy transformation by promoting a proton gradient has been a great challenge for a long time. In the present study, we realize a directional proton migration through the construction of oriented bacteriorhodopsin (BR) microcapsules coated by F F -ATPase molecular motors through layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly. The changes in the conformation of BR under illumination lead to proton transfer in a radial direction, which generates a higher proton gradient to drive the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by F F -ATPase. Furthermore, to promote the photosynthetic activity, optically matched quantum dots were introduced into the artificial coassembly system of BR and F F -ATPase. Such a design creates a new path for the use of light energy.