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On page 517, Elia et al. show how fly photoreceptors achieve their exquisite sensitivity to a single photon of light. The key is not the number of photoreceptor-activating proteins but the ratios of their components.
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* H4 j3 e% i6 z. UPhotoreceptor sensitivity depends on extremely low levels of spontaneous activity in the dark. This activity, spontaneous or otherwise, depends on a G protein coupled to the rhodopsin receptor. Rhodopsin activation induces the G protein's subunit to exchange its bound GDP for GTP, dissociate from its binding partner, ?, and initiate downstream signaling. The group now finds that excess ? ensures that is not activated in the dark., o. h: i n8 y. ]& n
" s& n0 Y1 e- P" `! i) W7 i( L6 PWild-type photoreceptors had over twofold more ? than and low background activity. Mutants with less ? had much more spontaneous activity. This defect was corrected by simultaneously reducing levels in the mutant (thus restoring the ? excess).; L2 }! Y9 h6 R9 h$ B& |& D1 |$ p
5 R/ {# K% o9 ^: Q: g0 gSpontaneous activity was actually higher in cells with moderate rather than extreme reduction in ?. The authors explain this finding by showing that ? was needed to bring to the rhabdomere, from which signals. Thus, in stronger ? mutants, there was less able to signal and hence less spontaneous activity.) w9 S1 n& L$ c4 ]7 @/ r
) e+ F. N2 \8 f; ]; r0 \, z! LThe group must now determine how the excess ? limits activity. Perhaps it either accelerates GTP hydrolysis on to block the downstream cascade or prevents the unsolicited exchange of GDP for GTP on .(Excess G? in normal (left) rhabdomeres s) |
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发表于 2009-3-6 08:52
发表于 2015-6-3 11:19
