Abstract
AFTER light absorption, rhodopsin decays through a series of spontaneous reactions1,10, the kinetics of which have been the object of considerable study. In a variety of conditions the decay kinetics of bathorhodopsin (prelumirhodopsin), lumirhodopsin, and metarhodopsin I (meta I) have been found to be non-first order, but are consistent with a set of parallel, independent first-order reactions2ā10. These kinetics have been assumed to result from the existence of multiple forms of each of these intermediates, and it has been proposed that rhodopsin itself exists in different forms or different environments in some conditions7. The kinetics of meta Iā meta II in both dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide- and digitonin-solubilised phospholipid-free rhodopsin are also consistent with two forms of meta I which decay independently (J. G. S. and E. O. Plante, unpublished). We show here that the effect of temperature changes on these kinetics is consistent with the hypothesis that rhodopsin exists in two forms in equilibrium resulting from the accessibility of two stable conformational states separated by a small difference in free energy.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Matthews, R. G., Hubbard, R., Brown, P. K., and Wald, G., J. gen. Physiol., 47, 215ā240 (1963).
Linschitz, H., Wulff, V. J., Adams, R. G., and Abrahamson, E. W., Archs biochem. Biophys., 68, 233ā236 (1957).
Wulff, V. J., Adams, R. G., Linschitz, H., and Abrahamson, E. W., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 74, 281ā290 (1958).
Abrahamson, E. W., Marquisee, J., Gavuzzi, P., and Roubie, J., Z. Elektrochem., 64, 177ā180 (1960).
Grellmann, K-H., Livingston, R., and Pratt, D., Nature, 193, 1258ā1260 (1962),
Pratt, D. C., Livingston, R., and Grellmann, K-H., Photochem. Photobiol., 3, 121ā127 (1964).
Marquisee, J., thesis, Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, Ohio (1966).
Rapp, J., Wiesenfeld, J. R., and Abrahamson, E. W., Biochim. biophys. Acta, 201, 119ā130 (1970).
Williams, T. P., Baker, B. N., and McDowell, J. H., Expl Eye Res., 18 69ā75 (1974).
Applebury, M. L., Zuckerman, D. M., Lamola, A. A., and Jovin, T. M., Biochemistry, 13, 3448ā3458 (1974).
Lumry, R., and Biltonen, R., in Structure and Stability of Biological Macromolecules (edit. by Timasheff, S., and Fasman F.), (Dekker, New York, 1969).
Kim, Y. D., and Lumry, R., J. Am. chem. Soc., 93, 1003ā1013 (1971).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
STEWART, J., BAKER, B. & WILLIAMS, T. Kinetic evidence for a conformational transition in rhodopsin. Nature 258, 89ā90 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/258089a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/258089a0
This article is cited by
-
Evidence for conformeric states of Rhodopsin
Biophysics of Structure and Mechanism (1977)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.