MOUSE ROD OUTER SEGMENT

Baylor College Of Medicine, Houston TX

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Phototransduction is a signaling cascade whereby photon absorption is converted into a change in electrical current. Members of the phototransduction cascade are abundantly present in the thin outer segment compartment of the rod photoreceptor. Many of these proteins have been crystallized and high resolution structures have been deduced. However, it is not known how these proteins are assembled. The objective of this proposal is to obtain a detailed understanding of the signaling complexes in the vertebrate rod photoreceptor. The Chen laboratory has made a number of transgenic mice with targeted deletion of these proteins. Tomography of outer segments from these mice may be helpful in the reconstruction of the protein complexes involved in phototransduction.