A team of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Utah and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have demonstrated for the first time in vivo the existence of rhodopsin as a dimer (two-molecule complex), with the hopes their research will help develop future therapies for retinitis pigmentosa.
According to the researchers, there has been much controversy surrounding rhodopsin — the molecule that allows the eye to detect dim light — as to its actual structure in the cells of the eye. Until now, researchers believed it to be a single molecule (monomer) and all supporting evidence had only been from in vitro experiments.
In addition to determining rhodopsin's structure, the research team also determined which sections or domains of the rhodopsin molecule were essential for forming dimers. The authors hope that their findings will also help develop future treatments for retinitis pigmentosa, which has been associated with more than 100 mutations of rhodopsin.
The research was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Source: Baylor College of Medicine