MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF PINEAL PHOTOTRANSDUCTION

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）：光的每日循环 黑暗是最一致和最普遍的信号， 环境对中枢神经系统的影响。 褪黑激素是宇宙中 通知身体这种照明变化的信号。 它还 准备好感官和神经反应，为 通过预测黑暗或白天的开始来照明。 这是我的 受到光线和生物钟的双重调节 时钟本身 与昼夜周期同步的光。 褪黑激素的合成是 受昼夜节律控制的多酶途径调节 时钟和视蛋白样色素。 光是最重要的 褪黑激素循环的夹带剂，因为它既夹带 生物钟和急性抑制褪黑激素的合成。 两种细胞类型， 视网膜的光感受器和下丘脑松果体眼的松果体细胞 已知脊椎动物在调节下有节奏地合成褪黑激素 和光调节褪黑激素的作用 使用视蛋白样色素合成。 该提案提出了 小鸡的松果体眼作为一个模型系统，其中确定的关键要素 在这个传导途径中。 它利用了最近 鸡松果体眼色素（P-视蛋白）的鉴定，并寻求 识别转导途径中的其他元件。 松果体的眼睛 作为模型系统的几个优点。 松果体眼的主要功能是 将昼夜光照信息转化为褪黑激素信号，因此许多 在松果体中表达的分子将致力于这项任务。 它 由相对较少的细胞类型组成，主要是松果体细胞， 相对容易培养。 在培养中，松果体细胞保留了 光感受和生理机能。 的褪黑激素的水平 表达式是足够鲁棒的，以便在真实的中进行测量。 时间，流过文化极其可靠。 许多药理学和 过去几年的扰动型研究提供了基础， 用于分子鉴定中描述的关键转导元件， 以下几页。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): The daily cycle of light and darkness is the most consistent and pervasive signal from the environment to the central nervous system. Melatonin is the universal dark signal that informs the body of this change in illumination. It also prepares sensory and nervous responses to be ready for the changes in illumination by predicting the onset of darkness or day. It does this my being dually regulated by light and a circadian clock. The clock is itself synchronized to the diurnal cycle by light. Melatonin synthesis is regulated by a multi-enzyme pathway that is under control of the circadian clock and of opsin-like photopigments. Light is the most important entraining agent for the melatonin cycle since it both entrains the circadian clock and acutely suppresses melatonin synthesis. Two cell types, photoreceptors of the retina and pinealocytes of the pineal eye of lower vertebrates are known to synthesize melatonin rhythmically under regulation of an endogenous circadian oscillator and to photoregulate melatonin synthesis using opsin-like photopigments. This proposal puts forth the pineal eye of the chick as a model system in which to identify key elements in this transduction pathway. It takes advantage of the recent identification of the chick pineal eye photopigment (P-opsin) and seeks to identify other elements in the transduction pathway. The pineal eye has several advantages as a model system. The pineal eye's primary function is to transduce diurnal lighting information into a melatonin signal, thus many of the molecules expressed in the pineal will be devoted to this task. It is made up of relatively few cell types, primarily pinealocytes and it is relatively easy to culture. In culture, pinealocytes retain the full range of photoreceptive and circadian functions. The level of melatonin expression is sufficiently robust so as to make its measurement in a real time, flow through culture extremely reliable. Many pharmacological and perturbation type investigations overs the past few years provide the basis for the molecular identification of key transduction elements described in the following pages.