Chlorophyll-Derivative Modulation of Rhodopsin Signaling Properties through Evolutionarily Conserved Interaction Pathways.

ABSTRACT: Retinal is the light-absorbing chromophore that is responsible for the activation of visual pigments and light-driven ion pumps. Evolutionary changes in the intermolecular interactions of the retinal with specific amino acids allow for adaptation of the spectral characteristics, referred to as spectral tuning. However, it has been proposed that a specific species of dragon fish has bypassed the adaptive evolutionary process of spectral tuning and replaced it with a single evolutionary event: photosensitization of rhodopsin by chlorophyll derivatives. Here, by using a combination of experimental measurements and computational modeling to probe retinal-receptor interactions in rhodopsin, we show how the binding of the chlorophyll derivative, chlorin-e6 (Ce6) in the intracellular domain (ICD)

SUBMITTER: Woods KN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5733091 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature