A system-level, molecular evolutionary analysis of mammalian phototransduction.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Visual perception is initiated in the photoreceptor cells of the retina via the phototransduction system. This system has shown marked evolution during mammalian divergence in such complex attributes as activation time and recovery time. We have performed a molecular evolutionary analysis of proteins involved in mammalian phototransduction in order to unravel how the action of natural selection has been distributed throughout the system to evolve such traits.

Results

We found selective pressures to be non-randomly distributed according to both a simple protein classification scheme and a protein-interaction network representation of the signaling pathway. Proteins which are topologically central in the signaling pathway, such as the G proteins, as well as retinoid

SUBMITTER: Invergo BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3616935 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature