Commentary and Perspective
Introduction of Session 14, “Physiology of retinal proteins”
2023 年 20 巻 Supplemental 号 論文ID: e201004
詳細
2023 年 20 巻 Supplemental 号 論文ID: e201004
The word, “retinal proteins”, indicates either proteins containing retinal as a chromophore or proteins expressed in the retina. All of the five talks in the session dealt with the former proteins, expressed as pigments here. Rhodopsin was one of the pigments first found in rod cells in the retina and has been studied most extensively not only at the molecular level but also at higher levels: with absorption of light, it triggers the phototransduction cascade to evoke an electrical response in a rod to initiate our visual sensation [1,2]. Thanks to the progress in DNA sequencing technologies, pigments were found widely in animal cells other than retinal photoreceptors, as well as in microorganisms [3,4]. Although light-dependent color changes and/or expected functions of a pigment at the molecular level have been shown, our current knowledge is limited when we ask how and to what extent the pigment contributes to the physiology of a cell, a tissue or an animal. In the session, studies trying to understand these issues were presented. In the five talks, four of them were the studies in animals and one in a microorganism.
The session was chaired by Kawamura together with Terakita in place of Prof. Ulrike Alexiev who could not come to the meeting.
The 1st speaker was Prof. Arikawa. He talked about their studies on butterfly color vision based on their findings of 6 types of photoreceptors showing different color sensitivities.
The 2nd speaker was Professor Kefalov. In humans, it has been known that mutation of G90D or G90V in rhodopsin causes retinal diseases. Prof. Kefalov showed how these mutations modify normal physiology of rod photoreceptors.
The 3rd speaker was Prof. Do. Melanopsin is known to be expressed in some of the retinal ganglion cells, and is known to detect overall intensity of environmental illumination to regulate the circadian rhythms, for example. Prof. Do talked about their studies on macaque Melanopsin.
The 4th speaker was Prof. Lucas. The topic of his talk was also Melanopsin, but in humans. He showed the contribution of Melanopsin to our physiology and behavior.
The last speaker was Dr. Rozenberg. He gave a talk concerning the structure and possible physiological function of newly-found bestrhodopsin, which is made by fusion of microbial rhodopsin domains and bestrophin channel domains.
