Blue light regenerates functional visual pigments in mammals through a retinyl-phospholipid intermediate

Joanna J. Kaylor; Tongzhou Xu; Norianne T. Ingram; Avian Tsan; Hayk Hakobyan; Gordon L. Fain; Gabriel H. Travis

doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00018-4

Nature Communications (May 2017)

Blue light regenerates functional visual pigments in mammals through a retinyl-phospholipid intermediate

Joanna J. Kaylor,
Tongzhou Xu,
Norianne T. Ingram,
Avian Tsan,
Hayk Hakobyan,
Gordon L. Fain,
Gabriel H. Travis

Affiliations

Joanna J. Kaylor: Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine
Tongzhou Xu: Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine
Norianne T. Ingram: Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine
Avian Tsan: Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine
Hayk Hakobyan: Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine
Gordon L. Fain: Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine
Gabriel H. Travis: Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00018-4
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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It is currently thought that visual pigments in vertebrate photoreceptors are regenerated exclusively through enzymatic cycles. Here the authors show that mammalian photoreceptors also regenerate opsin pigments in light through photoisomerization of N-ret-PE (N-retinylidene-phosphatidylethanolamine.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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