The light sensor of vertebrate scotopic (low-light) vision, rhodopsin, is a G-protein-coupled
receptor comprising a polypeptide chain with bound chromophore, 11-cis-retinal, that …

Evidence is reviewed from a wide range of studies relevant to the evolution of vertebrate
photoreceptors and phototransduction, in order to permit the synthesis of a scenario for the …

The book you are about to read is about research that asks questions like" How do our
senses operate?"" What is the connection between nervous system activity and perception?" …

One of the major challenges in modern biology is to understand how the molecular
components of a living cell operate in a highly noisy environment. What are the specific …

The first stage of color vision is now well understood (see Chap. 10). When presented in the
same context under photopic conditions, pairs of lights that produce the same excitations in …

The retinal degeneration model rd10 contains a missense mutation of the catalytic PDE6 β
subunit, which hydrolyzes cGMP in response to light. This model produces cell death more …

Vertebrate photoreceptor cells are exquisite light detectors operating under very dim and
bright illumination. The photoexcitation and adaptation machinery in photoreceptor cells …

The light responses of rod and cone photoreceptors in the vertebrate retina are
quantitatively different, yet extremely stable and reproducible because of the extraordinary …

Arrestins ensure the timely termination of receptor signaling. The role of rhodopsin
phosphorylation in visual arrestin binding was established more than 20 years ago, but the …

G protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling is ubiquitous. As an archetype of this
signaling motif, rod phototransduction has provided many fundamental, quantitative details …