Abstract

The focus of this project will be to elucidate the mechanism of spectral tuning in the subgroup of short-wave visual pigments. First, the protonation state of the Schiff base nitrogen in the 11-cis retinal chromophore of the ultraviolet, human blue and bovine blue pigments will be determined by 15N-solid state magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy. Second the amino acid residues responsible for spectral tuning within the short-wave group will be identified. Finally the mechanism of spectral tuning in the short-wave subgroup will be compared to that of other subgroups of visual pigments. In particular, attention will be focused on the zebrafish blue pigment because it is a member of the middle-wavelength subgroup of pigments (based on its amino acid sequence) but has a maximum centered in the short wavelength range (419nm). Results from this work will shed light on the mechanisms of spectral tuning among the visual pigments to illuminate the mechanistic basis for the evolutionary development of human color vision.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY009514-12
Application #
6741880
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-SSS-R (03))
Program Officer
Mariani, Andrew P
Project Start
1992-05-01
Project End
2006-04-30
Budget Start
2004-05-01
Budget End
2006-04-30
Support Year
12
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$271,250
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
Brandeis University
Department
Biochemistry
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
616845814
City
Waltham
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02454

  Publications

Chakrabarti, Kalyan S; Agafonov, Roman V; Pontiggia, Francesco et al. (2016) Conformational Selection in a Protein-Protein Interaction Revealed by Dynamic Pathway Analysis. Cell Rep 14:32-42
Kumar, Ramasamy P; Ranaghan, Matthew J; Ganjei, Allen Y et al. (2015) Crystal Structure of Recoverin with Calcium Ions Bound to Both Functional EF Hands. Biochemistry 54:7222-8
Ranaghan, Matthew J; Kumar, Ramasamy P; Chakrabarti, Kalyan S et al. (2013) A highly conserved cysteine of neuronal calcium-sensing proteins controls cooperative binding of Ca2+ to recoverin. J Biol Chem 288:36160-7
Frederiksen, Rikard; Boyer, Nicholas P; Nickle, Benjamin et al. (2012) Low aqueous solubility of 11-cis-retinal limits the rate of pigment formation and dark adaptation in salamander rods. J Gen Physiol 139:493-505
Bischoff, Nicole; Nickle, Benjamin; Cronin, Thomas W et al. (2012) Deep-sea and pelagic rod visual pigments identified in the mysticete whales. Vis Neurosci 29:95-103
McKee, Timothy D; Lewis, Margaret R; Kono, Masahiro (2007) Engineering a ""steric doorstop"" in rhodopsin: converting an inverse agonist to an agonist. Biochemistry 46:12248-52
Higgins, Matthew K; Oprian, Daniel D; Schertler, Gebhard F X (2006) Recoverin binds exclusively to an amphipathic peptide at the N terminus of rhodopsin kinase, inhibiting rhodopsin phosphorylation without affecting catalytic activity of the kinase. J Biol Chem 281:19426-32
Kono, Masahiro; Crouch, Rosalie K; Oprian, Daniel D (2005) A dark and constitutively active mutant of the tiger salamander UV pigment. Biochemistry 44:799-804
Das, Joydip; Crouch, Rosalie K; Ma, Jian-xing et al. (2004) Role of the 9-methyl group of retinal in cone visual pigments. Biochemistry 43:5532-8
Fasick, Jeffry I; Applebury, Meredithe L; Oprian, Daniel D (2002) Spectral tuning in the mammalian short-wavelength sensitive cone pigments. Biochemistry 41:6860-5

Showing the most recent 10 out of 15 publications