2014
Kinetics of Thermal Activation of an Ultraviolet Cone Pigment
Mooney V, Sekharan S, Liu J, Guo Y, Batista V, Yan E. Kinetics of Thermal Activation of an Ultraviolet Cone Pigment. Journal Of The American Chemical Society 2014, 137: 307-313. PMID: 25514632, DOI: 10.1021/ja510553f.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsTransmembrane helix 6UV pigmentsUnprotonated Schiff baseVisual pigmentsCone pigmentsDim-light visionExtracellular loop 2Vertebrate visual pigmentsMolecular evolutionUltraviolet pigmentsOpsin proteinHelix 6Retinyl chromophoreLoop 2UV cone pigmentBovine rhodopsinRod pigmentRhodopsinHydrogen bonding networkSalt bridgeIonone ringPigmentsSchiff base chromophoreSteric restraintsActivation
2013
Spectral Tuning of Ultraviolet Cone Pigments: An Interhelical Lock Mechanism
Sekharan S, Mooney V, Rivalta I, Kazmi M, Neitz M, Neitz J, Sakmar T, Yan E, Batista V. Spectral Tuning of Ultraviolet Cone Pigments: An Interhelical Lock Mechanism. Journal Of The American Chemical Society 2013, 135: 19064-19067. PMID: 24295328, PMCID: PMC4536979, DOI: 10.1021/ja409896y.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsUV pigmentsCone pigmentsSpectral tuningActivation of rhodopsinAncestral pigmentMolecular evolutionVertebrate visionMutagenesis studiesPhotoreceptor rhodopsinMolecular levelStructural rearrangementsUnprotonated Schiff baseTransmembraneTM6PigmentsRhodopsinMutationsEssential componentRetinyl chromophoreHydrogen bonding networkMutantsTM2Structural modelPhysiologicalRearrangement