The cell biology of vision.
Humans possess the remarkable ability to perceive color, shape, and motion, and to differentiate between light intensities varied by over nine orders of magnitude. Phototransduction--the process in which absorbed photons are converted into electrical responses--is the first stage of visual processing, and occurs in the outer segment, the light-sensing organelle of the photoreceptor cell. Studies of genes linked to human inherited blindness have been crucial to understanding the biogenesis of the outer segment and membrane-trafficking of photoreceptors.
Sung
Ching-Hwa
CH
Dyson Vision Research Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA. chsung@med.cornell.edu
Chuang
Jen-Zen
JZ
D000818:Animals; D016922:Cellular Senescence; D005123:Eye / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D009024:Morphogenesis; D017948:Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012243:Rhodopsin / Q000378:metabolism; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*
D012243:Rhodopsin