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Optogenetics. Optogenetics is a biological technique to control the activity of neurons or other cell types with light. This is achieved by expression of light-sensitive ion channels, pumps or enzymes specifically in the target cells. On the level of individual cells, light-activated enzymes and transcription factors allow precise control of ...
Photoreceptor protein. Photoreceptor proteins are light-sensitive proteins involved in the sensing and response to light in a variety of organisms. Some examples are rhodopsin in the photoreceptor cells of the vertebrate retina, phytochrome in plants, and bacteriorhodopsin and bacteriophytochromes in some bacteria.
A photoreceptor cell is a specialized type of neuroepithelial cell found in the retina that is capable of visual phototransduction. The great biological importance of photoreceptors is that they convert light (visible electromagnetic radiation) into signals that can stimulate biological processes. To be more specific, photoreceptor proteins in ...
In terms of structure, channelrhodopsins are retinylidene proteins. They are seven-transmembrane proteins like rhodopsin, and contain the light-isomerizable chromophore all- trans - retinal (an aldehyde derivative of vitamin A). The retinal chromophore is covalently linked to the rest of the protein through a protonated Schiff base.
Optical rotation, also known as polarization rotation or circular birefringence, is the rotation of the orientation of the plane of polarization about the optical axis of linearly polarized light as it travels through certain materials. Circular birefringence and circular dichroism are the manifestations of optical activity.
Rhodopsin is a protein found in the outer segment discs of rod cells. It mediates scotopic vision , which is monochromatic vision in dim light. [ 7 ] [ 19 ] Rhodopsin most strongly absorbs green-blue light (~500 nm) [ 20 ] [ 21 ] and appears therefore reddish-purple, hence the archaic term "visual purple".
Neuropsins are sensitive to UVA, typically at 380 nm. They are found in the brain, testes, skin, and retina of humans and rodents, as well as in the brain and retina of birds. In birds and rodents they mediate ultraviolet vision. [51] [56] [99] They couple to Gi-proteins. [56] [99] In humans, Neuropsin is encoded by the OPN5 gene. In the human ...
Protein moonlighting is a phenomenon by which a protein can perform more than one function. [2] It is an excellent example of gene sharing. [3] Ancestral moonlighting proteins originally possessed a single function but, through evolution, acquired additional functions.