Abstract
The main features of the visual phototransduction process, through which light initiates changes of ionic conductance in the retinal rod cell membrane, are now elucidated: cGMP is the soluble transmitter molecule, between the intracellular disk membrane where the light catching pigments are embedded, and the cell membrane which contains the ionic channels. Illumination of rhodopsin results in a fast and intense activation of a cGMP phosphodiesterase. cGMP controles directly the conductance of the cell membrane channels to which it binds. No cyclic nucleotide dependent kinase is involved. This is now the best documented example of a transduction mechanism between a membrane receptor protein (rhodopsin) and membrane bound effectors of cyclic nucleotides (cGMP phosphodiesterase), mediated by a special type of G protein, transducin (see 1 and 2 for recent reviews). It is the archetype of G protein mediated transduction.
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Chabre, M., Bigay, J., Deterre, P., Pfister, C. (1987). Fast Termination and Adaptation Processes in the cGMP Cascade of Visual Transduction. In: Konijn, T.M., Van der Wel, H., Van Haastert, P.J.M., Houslay, M.D., Van der Starre, H. (eds) Molecular Mechanisms of Desensitization to Signal Molecules. NATO ASI Series, vol 6. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71782-6_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71782-6_15
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