Observations of light-induced structural changes of retinal within rhodopsin

Gerhard Gröbner, Ian J. Burnett, Clemens Glaubitz, Gregory Choi, A. James Mason and Anthony Watts ()
Additional contact information
Gerhard Gröbner: Biomembrane Structure Unit, University of Oxford
Ian J. Burnett: Biomembrane Structure Unit, University of Oxford
Clemens Glaubitz: Biomembrane Structure Unit, University of Oxford
Gregory Choi: Biomembrane Structure Unit, University of Oxford
A. James Mason: Biomembrane Structure Unit, University of Oxford
Anthony Watts: Biomembrane Structure Unit, University of Oxford

Nature, 2000, vol. 405, issue 6788, 810-813

Abstract: Abstract Photo-isomerization of the 11-cis retinal chromophore activates the mammalian light-receptor rhodopsin1, a representative member of a major superfamily of transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptor proteins (GPCRs) responsible for many cell signal communication pathways. Although low-resolution (5 Å) electron microscopy studies2,3 confirm a seven transmembrane helix bundle as a principal structural component of rhodopsin, the structure of the retinal within this helical bundle is not known in detail. Such information is essential for any theoretical or functional understanding of one of the fastest occurring photoactivation processes in nature, as well as the general mechanism behind GPCR activation4,5,6. Here we determine the three-dimensional structure of 11-cis retinal bound to bovine rhodopsin in the ground state at atomic level using a new high-resolution solid-state NMR method7. Significant structural changes are observed in the retinal following activation by light to the photo-activated MI state of rhodopsin giving the all-trans isomer of the chromophore. These changes are linked directly to the activation of the receptor, providing an insight into the activation mechanism of this class of receptors at a molecular level.

Date: 2000
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35015604 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:405:y:2000:i:6788:d:10.1038_35015604

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35015604

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().