We report on preparation of rhodopsin proteoliposomes with the cytoplasmic domain of rhodopsin facing the exterior of the proteoliposomes. Rhodopsin purified from rod outer segments of bovine retinae by immunoaffinity chromatography in octyl glucoside was reconstituted into liposomes prepared from soybean phospholipids by detergent dialysis. The orientation of rhodopsin in the liposomes was det...

This review will focus on the conserved molecular mechanisms for the specific targeting of rhodopsin and rhodopsin-like sensory receptors to the primary cilia. We will discuss the molecular assemblies that control the movement of rhodopsin from the central sorting station of the cell, the trans-Golgi network (TGN), into membrane-enclosed rhodopsin transport carriers (RTCs), and their delivery t...

Rod photoreceptors generate measurable responses to single-photon activation of individual molecules of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), rhodopsin. Timely rhodopsin desensitization depends on phosphorylation and arrestin binding, which quenches G protein activation. Rhodopsin phosphorylation has been measured biochemically at C-terminal serine residues, suggesting that these residues are ...

Light-stimulated phosphorylation of rhodopsin was first described 25 years ago. This paper reviews the progress that has been made towards (i) understanding the nature of the enzymes that phosphorylate and dephosphorylate rhodopsin (ii) identifying the sites of phosphorylation on rhodopsin and (iii) understanding the physiological importance of rhodopsin phosphorylation. Many important question...

The role of the carboxyl-terminal domain in rhodopsin transport was investigated using transgenic mice expressing a rhodopsin truncation mutant lacking the terminal 15 amino acids (S334ter). It was previously shown that S334ter translocates to the outer segment in the presence of endogenous rhodopsin. We now show that in the absence of endogenous rhodopsin S334ter mis-localizes to the plasma me...

Here, we provide gain-of-function, loss-of function, and molecular evidence supporting genetic interactions between metastasis associated protein 1 (MTA1) and Six3 and between Six3 and rhodopsin. We discovered that MTA1 physically interacts with the Six3 chromatin in a histone deacetylase-dependent manner, leading to transcriptional suppression of the Six3 gene. MTA1 is also a Six3-interacting ...

Several recent reports have demonstrated that photoreceptors are expressed in human skin. The rod and cone photoreceptor-like proteins are expressed in human skin and rhodopsin, long wavelength-opsin, and short wavelength-opsin are also present in cultured murine melanocytes. Furthermore, the photopigment rhodopsin is expressed in human melanocytes and is involved in ultraviolet A phototransduc...

BRODA et al. studied frog rhodopsin in regard to the electrophoretic nature1). From the migration velocity of quartz particles on which frog rhodopsin and its bleached product had been adsorbed, they estimated the isoelectric points as being 4.47 and 4.57 respectively. Although a few available informations are suggestive of that the isoelectric point of cattle rhodopsin is rather on the less ac...

The visual pigment rhodopsin belongs to the family of G protein-coupled receptors that can form higher oligomers. It is controversial whether rhodopsin forms oligomers and whether oligomers are functionally relevant. Here, we study rhodopsin organization in cryosections of dark-adapted mouse rod photoreceptors by cryoelectron tomography. We identify four hierarchical levels of organization. Rho...