An accessory chromophore in red vision
Article Abstract:
A study shows that living rods extracted from a salamander could also accumulate an exogenous chlorophyll derivative chlorin that renders them as sensitive to red light as they are to green. The mechanism behind the highly efficient energy transfer from chlorin to the retinal chromophore is unclear but results from an amphibian, together with findings from dragon fish, bovine, insect and prokaryotic rhodopsins, highlight a potential for spectral enhancement by accessory chromophores in all opsin-based photoreception systems.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2006
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G-protein decativation is rate-limiting for shut-off of the phototransduction cascade
Article Abstract:
Light is detected by photoreceptors through a pathway comprising rhodopsin, a seven-helix receptor, and transducin, a heterotrimeric G protein. Responses to taste, smell amd hormones are directed by similar pathways. Phototransduction amplification is reduced by a fall in cytoplasmic CA2+, but how rhodopsin and transducin deactivation influence this response is not known. An investigation into the amplification of the phototransduction cascade is described.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1997
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Membrane protein diffusion sets the speed of rod phototransduction
Article Abstract:
Research into the process of retinal rod phototransduction is described. It is shown that the speed of phototransduction is determined by the concentration of rhodopsin in rod photoreceptor membranes.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2001
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