Watching G proteins at work.
Trends Neurosci
; 13(2): 64-70, 1990 Feb.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-1690932
ABSTRACT
It has been known for over a century that rod photoreceptors in the living retina contract and swell in response to light. Although it is still not known whether this structural light-response is of any functional significance, it has recently been possible to correlate the underlying molecular processes with the activation and deactivation of the photoreceptor G protein, transducin. The technique of light-scattering allows the monitoring of minute changes in cell dimensions, and using this non-invasive experimental approach it can be shown that certain properties of the coupling between transducin and rhodopsin are different in a structurally well-preserved system as compared with rod material used for conventional biochemical studies. Thus, not unlike a psychiatrist, who often learns more about a patient's 'interiors' by observing the body language than by direct interrogation, a biochemist, studying the 'body language' of a cell, may extract information about delicate 'cell interior processes' that would be perturbed by more direct experimental approaches.
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Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Células Fotorreceptoras
/
Transducción de Señal
/
Transducina
/
Modelos Biológicos
Límite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Año:
1990
Tipo del documento:
Article