Photophysiological functions of visual pigments

Signaling Transduction Pathways and G-Protein-Coupled Receptors in Different Stages of the Embryonic Diapause Termination Process in Artemia

Artemia is a widely distributed small aquatic crustacean, renowned for its ability to enter a state of embryonic diapause. The embryonic diapause termination (EDT) is closely linked to environmental cues, but the precise underlying mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, ATAC-seq and RNA-seq sequencing techniques were employed to explore the gene expression profiles in Artemia cysts 30 min after EDT. These profiles were compared with those during diapause and 5 h after EDT. The regulatory mechanisms governing the EDT process were analyzed through Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes. Furthermore, the active G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) were identified through structural analysis. The results unveiled that the signaling transduction during EDT primarily hinges on GPCRs and the cell surface receptor signaling pathway, but distinct genes are involved across different stages. Hormone-mediated signaling pathways and the tachykinin receptor signaling pathway exhibited heightened activity in the '0-30 min' group, whereas the Wnt signaling pathway manifested its function solely in the '30 min-5 h' group. These results imply a complete divergence in the mechanisms of signal regulation during these two stages. Moreover, through structural analysis, five GPCRs operating at different stages of EDT were identified. These findings provide valuable insights into the signal regulation mechanisms governing Artemia diapause.

Encoding the Photoreceptors of the Human Eye

This review aims to assess the anatomy of the human eye with a focus on exploring opportunities to mimic certain functionalities of photoreceptors in the optical system. This can help restore vision issues in people who had normal vision earlier, but their vision was impaired due to reasons that damaged parts of the eye; however, the functionality of the optic nerve remained intact. It is a conceptual article where the methodology to simulate artificial photoreceptors is discussed.

Rhodopsins: An Excitingly Versatile Protein Species for Research, Development and Creative Engineering

The first member and eponym of the rhodopsin family was identified in the 1930s as the visual pigment of the rod photoreceptor cell in the animal retina. It was found to be a membrane protein, owing its photosensitivity to the presence of a covalently bound chromophoric group. This group, derived from vitamin A, was appropriately dubbed retinal. In the 1970s a microbial counterpart of this species was discovered in an archaeon, being a membrane protein also harbouring retinal as a chromophore, and named bacteriorhodopsin. Since their discovery a photogenic panorama unfolded, where up to date new members and subspecies with a variety of light-driven functionality have been added to this family. The animal branch, meanwhile categorized as type-2 rhodopsins, turned out to form a large subclass in the superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors and are essential to multiple elements of light-dependent animal sensory physiology. The microbial branch, the type-1 rhodopsins, largely function as light-driven ion pumps or channels, but also contain sensory-active and enzyme-sustaining subspecies. In this review we will follow the development of this exciting membrane protein panorama in a representative number of highlights and will present a prospect of their extraordinary future potential.

Dark-adaptation in the eyes of a lake and a sea population of opossum shrimp (Mysis relicta): retinoid isomer dynamics, rhodopsin regeneration, and recovery of light sensitivity

We have studied dark-adaptation at three levels in the eyes of the crustacean Mysis relicta over 2-3 weeks after exposing initially dark-adapted animals to strong white light: regeneration of 11-cis retinal through the retinoid cycle (by HPLC), restoration of native rhodopsin in photoreceptor membranes (by MSP), and recovery of eye photosensitivity (by ERG). We compare two model populations ("Sea", S_p, and "Lake", L_p) inhabiting, respectively, a low light and an extremely dark environment. 11-cis retinal reached 60-70% of the pre-exposure levels after 2 weeks in darkness in both populations. The only significant L_p/S_p difference in the retinoid cycle was that L_p had much higher levels of retinol, both basal and light-released. In S_p, rhodopsin restoration and eye photoresponse recovery parallelled 11-cis retinal regeneration. In L_p, however, even after 3 weeks only ca. 25% of the rhabdoms studied had incorporated new rhodopsin, and eye photosensitivity showed only incipient recovery from severe depression. The absorbance spectra of the majority of the L_p rhabdoms stayed constant around 490-500 nm, consistent with metarhodopsin II dominance. We conclude that sensitivity recovery of S_p eyes was rate-limited by the regeneration of 11-cis retinal, whilst that of L_p eyes was limited by inertia in photoreceptor membrane turnover.

LOVely enzymes - towards engineering light-controllable biocatalysts

Light control over enzyme function represents a novel and exciting field of biocatalysis research. Blue‐light photoreceptors of the Light, Oxygen, Voltage (LOV) family have recently been investigated for their applicability as photoactive switches. We discuss here the primary photochemical events leading to light activation of LOV domains as well as the proposed signal propagation mechanism to the respective effector domain. Furthermore, we describe the construction of LOV fusions to different effector domains, namely a dihydrofolate reductase from Escherichia coli and a lipase from Bacillus subtilis. Both fusion partners retained functionality, and alteration of enzyme activity by light was also demonstrated. Hence, it appears that fusion of LOV photoreceptors to functional enzyme target sites via appropriate linker structures may represent a straightforward strategy to design light controllable biocatalysts.

Confronting complexity: the interlink of phototransduction and retinoid metabolism in the vertebrate retina

Absorption of light by rhodopsin or cone pigments in photoreceptors triggers photoisomerization of their universal chromophore, 11-cis-retinal, to all-trans-retinal. This photoreaction is the initial step in phototransduction that ultimately leads to the sensation of vision. Currently, a great deal of effort is directed toward elucidating mechanisms that return photoreceptors to the dark-adapted state, and processes that restore rhodopsin and counterbalance the bleaching of rhodopsin. Most notably, enzymatic isomerization of all-trans-retinal to 11-cis-retinal, called the visual cycle (or more properly the retinoid cycle), is required for regeneration of these visual pigments. Regeneration begins in rods and cones when all-trans-retinal is reduced to all-trans-retinol. The process continues in adjacent retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE), where a complex set of reactions converts all-trans-retinol to 11-cis-retinal. Although remarkable progress has been made over the past decade in understanding the phototransduction cascade, our understanding of the retinoid cycle remains rudimentary. The aim of this review is to summarize recent developments in our current understanding of the retinoid cycle at the molecular level, and to examine the relevance of these reactions to phototransduction.

Changes in structure of the chromophore in the photochemical process of bovine rhodopsin as revealed by FTIR spectroscopy for hydrogen out-of-plane vibrations

The hydrogen out-of-plane bending (HOOP) vibrations were studied in the difference Fourier transform infrared spectra of lumirhodopsin and metarhodopsin I by use of a series of specifically deuterated retinal derivatives of bovine rod outer segments. The 947 cm-1 band of lumirhodopsin and the 950 cm-1 band of metarhodopsin I were assigned to the mode composed of both 11-HOOP and 12-HOOP vibrations. This result suggests that the perturbation near C12-H of the retinal in the earlier intermediate, bathorhodopsin (Palings, van den Berg, Lugtenburg and Mathies, Biochemistry, 28 (1989) 1498-1507), is extinguished in lumirhodopsin and metarhodopsin I. Unphotolyzed rhodopsin and metarhodopsin I exhibited the 14-HOOP bands in the 12-D derivatives at 901 and 886 cm-1, respectively. Lumirhodopsin, however, did not show the 14-HOOP in the 12-D derivatives. The result suggests a change in geometrical alignment of the C14-H bond in lumirhodopsin with respect to the N-H bond of the Schiff base.

Assignment of groups responsible for the "opsin shift" and light absorptions of rhodopsin and red, green, and blue iodopsins (cone pigments)

A modified structural model of rhodopsin is presented. Seven (alpha-helical) segments of 24 largely hydrophobic amino acid residues are assembled with exobilayer connecting strands into an aligned set, using the sequences of human red, green, and blue iodopsins (cone pigments) and human and bovine rod rhodopsins. (Aligned set numbering is used in this article). The inner region of the heptahelical hydrophobic domain includes one His-Glu (Asp) ion pair (red, green rod) near the retinylidene moiety in addition to an iminium ion Asp-99 pair. The negative charges posited in the "point-charge model" to cause the shift of the retinylidene iminium ion light absorption to longer wavelengths in the protein ("opsin shift") are Asp-99 (red, green rod), Glu-102 (red, green), and Glu-138 (rod). Blue iodopsin lacks both an ion pair and a counter charge to the iminium ion in the inner region, a fact that explains its absorption relative to rod rhodopsin. The spectroscopic difference between rod rhodopsin and the red/green iodopsins is due to the influence of Glu-102 in the latter. The red-green difference is due to the net effect of seven OH groups around the chromophore, all such groups being found within one helix turn of the retinylidene location. The tryptophan, which rotates as the retinylidene group isomerizes, may be Trp-142 or Trp-177. The geometric change (the rhodopsin "photoswitch") resulting from cis-trans isomerization in the first excited electronic state (S1), ultimately leads to RX (photoactivated rhodopsin, metarhodopsin II) and changes the activity of exobilayer groups, possibly causing dissociation of Lys-83 and Arg-85 from the carboxylate groups at positions 263 and 265.

Retinal Schiff base position relative to the surfaces of photoreceptor disk

Surface-enhanced Raman spectra of native and photobleached bovine rod outer segment disks as well as inside-out (inverted) photoreceptor disks adsorbed on silver hydrosol have been analyzed. Surface-enhanced spectra of inverted disks and disk-monoclonal antibody complexes reveal the short-range mechanism of enhancement. The distance between retinal Schiff base and the cytoplasmic side of native disk has been shown to be 5-10 A.