RESONANCE RAMAN STUDIES OF RHODOPSIN AND RELATED PIGMENTS

本研究的总体目标是研究光的机理 使用视觉色素和相关色素的能量转导 共振拉曼光谱。 这项技术非常强大 探测视色素的结构和结构变化 伴随视觉早期阶段的视网膜发色团。 的 最终目标是从分子的角度理解光如何 能量被转化为称为视觉传导的化学物质。 转导过程是生物学中的重要问题，也是一个分子生物学问题 了解视觉系统是重要的一步。 设想了三个主要研究领域。 计划进行实验 阐明发色位点的性质。 的结构 需要测量主要的光产品，以了解光如何 能量转化为化学能。 最后，深色中间体和 需要探索反应途径以帮助阐明这种化学物质如何 使用能量。

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 that 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.