Synonyms
Historical Background
The primary processes of vertebrate visual excitation are located in the rod and cone photoreceptor cells of the retina. Illumination of the rod and cone cells triggers a biochemical cascade leading to hyperpolarization of the cell. This conversion of a light signal into an electrical signal is called phototransduction, and in the 1970s the concept of an intracellular second messenger mediating this process was developed. Two competing hypotheses were intensively discussed, the “calcium hypothesis” and the “cGMP hypothesis” to reconcile different lines of experimental results. With the identification of a cGMP-gated cation channel (cyclic nucleotide–gated channel, CNG-channel) in the plasma membrane of rod and cone cells, the second messenger of light excitation was finally identified (for a historical overview see Luo et al. 2008). Calcium on the other hand was found to be important for the sensitivity regulation...
References
Behnen P, Dell’Orco D, Koch KW. Involvement of the calcium sensor GCAP1 in hereditary cone dystrophies. Biol Chem. 2010;391:631–7.
Burgoyne RD. Neuronal calcium sensor proteins: generating diversity in neuronal Ca2+ signaling. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2007;8:182–93.
Dizhoor AM, Olshevskaya EV, Peshenko IV. Mg2+/Ca2+ cation binding cycle of guanylyl cylase activating proteins (GCAPs): role in regulation of photoreceptor guanylyl cyclase. Mol Cell Biochem. 2010;334:117–24.
Fain GL, Matthews HR, Cornwall C, Koutalos Y. Adaptation in vertebrate photoreceptors. Physiol Rev. 2001;81:117–51.
Imanishi Y, Yang L, Sokal I, Filipek S, Palczewski K, Baehr W. Diversity of guanylate cyclase-activating proteins (GCAPs) in teleost fish: characterization of three novel GCAPs (GCAP4, GCAP5, GCAP7) from zebrafish (Danio rerio) and prediction of eight GCAPs (GCAP1-8) in pufferfish (Fugu rubripes). J Mol Evol. 2004;59:204–17.
Koch KW, Dell’Orco D. A calcium relay mechanism in vertebrate phototransduction. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2013;4:909–17.
Koch KW, Stryer L. Highly cooperative feedback control of retinal rod guanylate cyclase by calcium ions. Nature. 1988;334:64–6.
Koch KW, Duda T, Sharma RK. Ca2+-modulated vision-linked ROS-GC guanylate cyclase transduction machinery. Mol Cell Biochem. 2010;334:105–15.
Luo DG, Xue T, Yau KW. How vision begins: an odyssey. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2008;105:9855–62.
Rätscho N, Scholten A, Koch KW. Expression profiles of three novel sensory guanylate cyclases and guanylate cyclase-activating proteins in the zebrafish retina. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2009;1793:1110–4.
Rätscho N, Scholten A, Koch KW. Diversity of guanylate cyclases in teleost fishes. Mol Cell Biochem. 2010;334:207–14.
Stephen R, Bereta G, Golczak M, Palczewski K, Sousa MC. Stabilizing function for myristoyl group revealed by the crystal structure of a neuronal calcium sensor, guanylate cyclase-activating protein 1. Sturcture. 2007;15:1392–402.
Stephen R, Filipek S, Palczewski K, Sousa MC. Ca2+-dependent regulation of phototransduction. Photochem Photobiol. 2008;84:903–10.
Takemoto N, Tachibanaki S, Kawamura S. High cGMP synthetic activity in carp cones. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2009;106:11788–93.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Koch, KW. (2016). GCAP (Guanylate Cyclase–Activating Protein). In: Choi, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Signaling Molecules. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6438-9_12-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6438-9_12-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6438-9
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences