This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on 11-cis retinal is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
The Retinenes (Retinene1 and Retinene2) are chemical derivatives of the dietary supplement vitamin A (see retinol) formed through oxidation reactions.
Retinene1 is better known as retinaldehyde or simply retinal and is fundamental in the transduction of light into visual signals in the photoreceptor level of the retina (known as the visual cycle). Retinene2 is more formally known as dehydroretinaldehyde.
The energy of impinging photons will convert retinaldehyde from an 11-cis isomer into an all-trans form. In the retina, this conversion induces a conformational change in the surrounding photopsin protein pigment, leading to signaling through the G protein transducin. Retinaldehyde also forms a part of bacteriorhodopsin, a light-induced proton pump found in some archaea.
Experimentally, it is possible to replace 11-cis retinaldehyde by perfusing retinal tissue preparations with retinaldehyde derivatives. Selective modification of the retinaldehyde structure, particularly the density of electrons in the π-orbitals, can lead to insights into the interaction between the retinaldehyde moiety and the surrounding pigment protein.
See also
 |
This biochemistry article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 25 June 2008, at 15:04.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "11-cis retinal".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.