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G-Protein–Effector Coupling in the Vertebrate Phototransduction Cascade
Book chapter

G-Protein–Effector Coupling in the Vertebrate Phototransduction Cascade

Nikolai O Artemyev
G Protein Signaling Mechanisms in the Retina, pp.49-64
Springer Series in Vision Research, Springer New York
09/05/2014
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-1218-6_4

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Abstract

For many years, the rod phototransduction cascade has served as a valuable model to study the mechanisms of cellular signaling by G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Our understanding of the key steps of signal transfer from GPCRs to G proteins and further downstream to G protein effectors has been greatly advanced through extensive biochemical studies in rod photoreceptors. This review focuses on the coupling of the visual G protein transducin to its classical effector phosphodiesterase 6. A new level of mechanistic insight has been achieved from the atomic structures of the signaling molecules. Recent studies on light-dependent translocation of transducin in rods raise a possibility for noncanonical transducin signaling and partners in the photoreceptor synaptic terminal.
PDE6 Phototransduction Photoreceptor Transducin GPCR Rods G protein

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