RESONANCE RAMAN STUDIES OF RHODOPSIN AND RELATED PIGMENTS

本研究的总体目标是研究光的机制 在视色素和相关色素中的能量转换 共振拉曼光谱。 这种技术是一种非常强大的技术， 探讨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来理解光是如何 能量被转换成一种化学物质，这种化学物质被称为视觉传导。 转导过程是生物学中的重要问题， 对视觉系统的理解是重要的一步。 设想了三个主要的研究领域。 实验计划， 阐明发色位点的性质。 的结构 主要的光产物将被测量，以了解光是如何 能量转化为化学能。 最后，暗中间体和 反应途径将被探测，以帮助阐明这种化学物质是如何 能量被使用。

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.