RESONANCE RAMAN STUDIES OF RHODOPSIN & RELATED PIGMENTS

本研究的总体目标是研究光能的产生机制。 利用共振拉曼光谱研究视觉色素及其相关色素的转导 光谱学。这种技术是探测结构的一种非常强大的技术 以及视觉色素视网膜发色团的结构变化 伴随着视觉的早期阶段。最终的目标是理解 从分子的角度看光能是如何转化为什么化学物质的 这就是所谓的视觉传导。转导过程很重要 生物学中的问题，以及对视觉系统的分子理解 这是重要的一步。设想了三个主要的研究领域。实验 计划用来阐明发色部位的性质。这个 应测量初级感光产品的结构，以便 了解光能是如何转化为化学能的。最后，黑暗 中间体和反应途径将被探索，以帮助阐明 这种化学能被用来。

The overall goal of this research is to study the mechanism of light energy transduction in visual pigments and related pigments using resonance Raman spectroscopy. This technique is a very powerful one to probe the structure and changes in structure of the visual pigment retinal chromophore that accompany the early stages of vision. The ultimate goal is to understand from a molecular viewpoint how light energy is converted to what chemistry that is called visual transduction. Transduction processes are important problems in biology, and a molecular understanding of the visual system is an important step. Three main areas of study are envisioned. Experiments are planned to elucidate the nature of the chromophoric site. The structure of the primary photoproducts are to be measured so as to understand how light energy is converted to chemical energy. Lastly, dark intermediates and reaction pathways are to be probed to help elucidate how this chemical energy is used.