The application of an external electric field to dry films of Asp-85 --Asn mutant bacteriorhodopsin causes deprotonation of the Schiff base, resulting in a shift of the optical absorption maximum from 600 nm to 400 nm. This is in marked contrast to the case of wild-type bacteriorhodopsin films, in which electric fields produce a red-shifted product whose optical properties are similar to those of the acid-blue form of the protein. This difference is due to the much weaker binding of the Schiff-base proton in the mutant protein, as indicated by its low pK of -9, as compared with the value pK 13 in the wild type. Other bacteriorhodopsins with lowered Schiff-base pK values should also exhibit a fieldinduced shift in the protonation equilibrium ofthe Schiffbase. We propose mechanisms to account for these observations. mutant bacteria with the Asp-85 --Asn (D85N) mutation (10),we have discovered that external electric fields cause reversible spectroscopic changes which unambiguously represent Schiffbase deprotonation. Explaining the mechanism of this deprotonation will require the application of recently developed numerical techniques of minimization of the electrostatic energy of the protein and may impose new constraints on its structure (13). In addition, this observation may have great technological significance: it may be possible to exploit the effect, using genetic and/or chemical modification of BR, to produce unique electrochromic materials-"electronic ink"-with important applications in the technology of reflective displays.Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) is a protein found in the cell membrane of the bacterium Halobacterium salinarium. BR consists of seven a-helices which span the membrane, forming a channel through which protons can be transported. Upon absorption of a photon, BR undergoes a photocycle which results in the translocation of a proton across the membrane, converting the free energy of the photon into chemical energy for metabolism (1, 2). BR can be isolated from the bacterium in the form of purple membranes (3)-so called because of a strong absorption band centered at 570 nm-in which trimers of BR molecules are incorporated in patches of lipid bilayer. These patches can be assembled into dry films for experimentation (4). The deep purple color of BR comes from the chromophore retinal, which is bound to a lysine residue inside the membrane channel via a protonated Schiff-base linkage. Unbound retinal in solution is faintly yellow, exhibiting a strong absorption centered at 360 nm. However, upon incorporation into BR, the retinal absorption band center shifts to 570 nm. This opsin shift is caused in large part by charge redistribution in the retinal due to the positive charge of the proton at the Schiff base. Deprotonation of the Schiff base during the M intermediate state of the BR photocycle leads to a transient partial abolition of the opsin shift, switching the absorption maximum from 570 nm to 410 nm (1, 2). BR variants in which the lifetime of the deprotonated state is prolonged by chemic...