All articles tagged with #rhodopsin
Researchers studying Greenland sharks aged over a century find a preserved, functional visual system: their retinas lack cones, but rod-based vision uses rhodopsin tuned to blue light (458 nm), and corneas continue to transmit most light. The findings hint that a DNA repair toolkit linked to extreme longevity may help maintain retinal health, with unclear implications for human eye health; study published in Nature Communications.
Scientists from the University of California, Irvine, have discovered a nanobody that may lead to a treatment for Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a group of inherited eye diseases that cause vision loss. The nanobody targets the Rhodopsin molecule, a key light-sensing molecule in the retina, and can halt its photoactivation process. The nanobodies have shown high specificity and can recognize the target Rhodopsin extracellularly, potentially allowing for the development of gene therapies for RP. The researchers aim to improve the nanobodies' ability to recognize Rhodopsin from other species and resolve the key intermediate states of Rhodopsin for further study.
Researchers have created a new type of yeast that can use light as energy by inserting a rhodopsin gene from a marine bacterium into brewer's yeast. This breakthrough is the first step towards engineering artificial photosynthesis and could lead to more complex modes of genetic engineering.
Researchers have used ultrafast time-resolved crystallography to determine how an isomerized twisted all-trans retinal stores the photon energy that is required to initiate the protein conformational changes associated with the formation of the G protein-binding signalling state. The study sheds light on the earliest stages of vision in vertebrates and points to fundamental aspects of the molecular mechanisms of agonist-mediated G protein-coupled receptor activation.