Molecular evolution of visual pigments

随着基因组数据库中序列数据的快速积累，需要新的生物信息学方法和有效的实验方法来破译这些丰富的序列数据中包含的信息。 分子进化方法提供了从塑造其进化的历史力量中理解蛋白质功能多样性的视角。这项研究旨在利用各种创新的比较方法来了解视觉色素功能的机制，例如祖先蛋白质的实验性复活，以及对具有不寻常视觉适应的现代动物的调查。 祖先视色素的研究将与束带蛇全锥视网膜中发现的视色素的研究相结合。 我们将借由研究束带蛇感光器中的视色素，来探讨束带蛇异常视觉的分子机制。 我们的创新方法结合了对复活和现今视色素的研究，有望深入了解传统方法难以实现的视色素功能。 最终，更好地了解视色素的结构和功能将不仅对眼科疾病的治疗，而且对制药工业，以及靶向G蛋白偶联受体的药物的开发具有重要意义，其中视色素是研究最好的成员之一。

With the rapidly accumulating sequence data in the genomic databases, new bioinformatic approaches and efficient experimental methods are needed to decipher the information contained in this wealth of sequence data. Molecular evolutionary approaches offer the perspective of understanding the diversity of protein function from the historical forces that shaped its evolution. This research seeks to understand the mechanisms of visual pigment function using a variety of innovative comparative approaches such as the experimental resurrection of ancestral proteins, and investigations of present day animals with unusual visual adaptations. Ancestral visual pigment studies will be combined with studies of the visual pigments found in the all-cone retina of the garter snake. Molecular mechanisms underlying the unusual vision of garter snakes will be investigated by characterizing the visual pigments contained in their photoreceptors. Our innovative approach combining studies of both resurrected and present day visual pigments promises to yield insights into visual pigment function not easily attainable by more conventional methods. Ultimately, better understanding of visual pigment structure and function will have important implications not only for the treatment of eye diseases, but also for the pharmaceutical industry, and the development of drugs which target G protein coupled receptors, of which visual pigments are one of the best studied members.