Identification of new protein sources for renewable energy storage systems: A bioinformatic study

• Main Authors: Nadella, Rasajna, Hernandez-Baltazar, Daniel
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alternative energy sources; Archaea; Bacteriorhodopsin; Electrical properties; Electricity; Electrochromism; Energy storage; Eukaryotes; Functional analysis; Homology; Optical properties; Photoelectricity; Photosynthesis; Prokaryotes; Proteins; Renewable energy; Salt marshes; Solar energy; Storage systems
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/1.5047953

Sunlight that is harvested by photosynthetic organisms provides a blueprint for the solar energy storage systems. Substantial use of solar energy to meet several needs of humanity will require huge energy storage, which is one of the greatest barriers to the adoption of renewable energy and this is an area where proteins can play a key role. One such protein identified so far is bacteriorhodopsin (bR), which is produced by a salt marsh archaea, Halobacterium salinarum; to generate energy via photosynthesis. The optical and electrical properties of bR to produce unique photoelectric, photochromic and electrochromic materials has an important role in the development of materials, tools and various energy storage systems has already been proved. In the present paper, we screened nine similar proteins to bR from prokaryotes to eukaryotes using bioinformatic analysis. Our multiple sequence alignment (MSA) results, both consistency based and constraint based, helped us in constructing the phylogenetic tree, classification of protein sequences and predicting their functional role. All our homology, phylogeny and functional analysis results led us in identifying eight out of nine similar proteins to bR from various sources. We strongly believe that these new protein sources might be useful in making potent renewable energy storage systems.