| First Author | Doan T | Year | 2006 |
| Journal | Science | Volume | 313 |
| Issue | 5786 | Pages | 530-3 |
| PubMed ID | 16873665 | Mgi Jnum | J:221471 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5640738 | Doi | 10.1126/science.1126612 |
| Citation | Doan T, et al. (2006) Multiple phosphorylation sites confer reproducibility of the rod's single-photon responses. Science 313(5786):530-3 |
| abstractText | Although signals controlled by single molecules are expected to be inherently variable, rod photoreceptors generate reproducible responses to single absorbed photons. We show that this unexpected reproducibility-the consistency of amplitude and duration of rhodopsin activity-varies in a graded and systematic manner with the number but not the identity of phosphorylation sites on rhodopsin's C terminus. These results indicate that each phosphorylation site provides an independent step in rhodopsin deactivation and that collectively these steps tightly control rhodopsin's active lifetime. Other G protein cascades may exploit a similar mechanism to encode accurately the timing and number of receptor activation. |
