Cone Photoreceptor Visual Transduction

The vertebrate retina contains two types of photoreceptor, namely rods and cones. Rods are adapted for dim light vision, while cones function at brighter light and mediate high resolution color vision. We are interested in the regulation of the cone visual transduction cascade, mediating vision over more than 8 log units of light intensity. We focus on the negative regulation of the cascade, mediated by changes of intracellular calcium concentrations.

We found that most members of the transduction cascade are under strong circadian control.

People involved:

Dr. Jingjing Zang

Selected publications:

Zang JJ, Keim J, Kastenhuber E, Gesemann M, Neuhauss SC* (2015). Recoverin depletion accelerates cone photoresponse recovery. OpenBiology Aug;5(8).

Renninger SL, Gesemann M, Neuhauss SC* (2011) Cone arrestin confers cone vision of high temporal resolution in zebrafish larvae. Eur J Neurosci 33:658-667.

Rinner, O, Makhankov, YM, Biehlmaier, O, Neuhauss*, SCF (2005). Knockdown of Cone-Specific Kinase GRK7 in Larval Zebrafish Leads to Impaired Cone Response Recovery and Delayed Dark Adaptation. Neuron 47, 231-242.