β-arrestin functionally regulates the non-bleaching pigment parapinopsin in lamprey pineal.

ABSTRACT: The light response of vertebrate visual cells is achieved by light-sensing proteins such as opsin-based pigments as well as signal transduction proteins, including visual arrestin. Previous studies have indicated that the pineal pigment parapinopsin has evolutionally and physiologically important characteristics. Parapinopsin is phylogenetically related to vertebrate visual pigments. However, unlike the photoproduct of the visual pigment rhodopsin, which is unstable, dissociating from its chromophore and bleaching, the parapinopsin photoproduct is stable and does not release its chromophore. Here, we investigated arrestin, which regulates parapinopsin signaling, in the lamprey pineal organ, where parapinopsin and rhodopsin are localized to distinct photoreceptor cells. We found that beta-a

SUBMITTER: Kawano-Yamashita E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3031554 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature