Structural observation of the primary isomerization in vision with femtosecond-stimulated Raman.

Journal article

The primary event that initiates vision is the light-induced 11-cis to all-trans isomerization of retinal in the visual pigment rhodopsin. Despite decades of study with the traditional tools of chemical reaction dynamics, both the timing and nature of the atomic motions that lead to photoproduct production remain unknown. We used femtosecond-stimulated Raman spectroscopy to obtain time-resolved vibrational spectra of the molecular structures formed along the reaction coordinate. The spectral ...

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Authors: Kukura, P; McCamant, D; Yoon, S; Wandschneider, D; Mathies, R

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Science (New York, N.Y.)
• Volume: 310
• Issue: 5750
• Pages: 1006-1009
• Publication date: 2005-11-01
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1118379
• EISSN: 1095-9203
• ISSN: 0036-8075
• Language: English
• Keywords: Energy Transfer; Vision, Ocular; Photons; Light; Rhodopsin; Retinaldehyde; Cattle; Models, Chemical; Time Factors; Photochemistry; Physicochemical Phenomena; Chemistry, Physical; Hydrogen; Isomerism; Models, Molecular; Spectrum Analysis, Raman; Protein Conformation; Animals