Contact CORE RESEARCH CLUSTERTOHOKU UNIVERSITY 日本語 Search HOME CORE RESEARCH CLUSTER for MATERIALS SCIENCE ABOUT US RESEARCH PROJECT RESEARCH PROJECT Advanced Energy Materials Project Advanced Electronic Materials Project Biomaterials Project Materials Development Based on Microstructure Control Project High Strength Materials Project Mathematical Science and Computation Evaluation and Sensing Processing Education and Human Resources Development INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE NEWS ＆ EVENTS PUBLICITY NEWS PUBLIC Search TOP ABOUT US RESEARCH PROJECT Advanced Energy Materials Project Advanced Electronic Materials Project Biomaterials Project Materials Development Based on Microstructure Control Project High Strength Materials Project Mathematical Science and Computation Evaluation and Sensing Processing Education and Human Resources Development INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE NEWS ＆ EVENTS Tohok UniversityCreating GlobalExcellence Core Research Cluster for Materials Science Advanced Institute for Materials Research Institute for Materials Research Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials School of Engineering Department of Metallurgy, Materials Science and Materials Processing Department of Applied Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biomolecular Engineering Graduate School of Science and Faculty of Science News and Events NEWS Press release Date uploaded: April 21, 2023 Back to list Ultrafast molecular animation of proteins involved in vision -How we sense light in dim light Press Release 20230323 Summary An international collaborative research group consisting of Sou Iwata (RIKEN SPring-8 Center and Kyoto University), Eriko Nango (Tohoku University and RIKEN SPring-8 Center), and Kensuke Tono (Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute) has successfully captured moving images of the ultrafast changes upon light stimulation in rhodopsin, a protein involved in vision, clearly showing the atomic movements from 1 picosecond (one trillionth of a second) to 100 picoseconds using an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL). These research results are expected to lead not only to a better understanding of the mechanisms of human vision, but also to important insights into the activation mechanism of G protein-coupled receptors, which are important drug targets. Rhodopsin is a membrane protein found in the retina of the eye that contains a conjugated aldehyde called retinal to catch light. Rhodopsin is highly sensitive to light and thus plays a role in seeing objects in dimly lit environments (night vision). When exposed to light, rhodopsin undergoes a structural change that is transmitted as a signal into the cell, ultimately enabling it to "see" objects. However, the details of the retinal changes inside rhodopsin were unknown. In this study, the international research group succeeded in capturing atomic-level moving images of rhodopsin changes induced by light, and elucidated the mechanism at the early stage of vision. This research was published online in the scientific journal Nature prior to its publication (March 22: March 23, Japan time) (The original press release is in Japanese) https://www.tohoku.ac.jp/japanese/2023/03/press20230323-01-vision.html http://www2.tagen.tohoku.ac.jp/lab/news_press/20230323/ Publication details Title: Ultrafast structural changes direct the first molecular events of vision Authors Thomas Gruhl1, Tobias Weinert, Matthew J. Rodrigues, Christopher J. Milne ,Giorgia Ortolani, Karol Nass, Eriko Nango, Saumik Sen, Philip J. M. Johnson, Claudio Cirelli, Antonia Furrer, Sandra Mous, Petr Skopintsev, Daniel James, Florian Dworkowski, Petra Båth, Demet Kekilli, Dmitry Ozerov, Rie Tanaka, Hannah Glover, Camila Bacellar, Steffen Brünle1, Cecilia M. Casadei, Azeglio D. Diethelm, Dardan Gashi, Guillaume Gotthard1, Ramon Guixà-González, Yasumasa Joti, Victoria Kabanova, Gregor Knopp, Elena Lesca1, Pikyee Ma, Isabelle Martiel, Jonas Mühle, Shigeki Owada, Filip Pamula1, Daniel Sarabi, Oliver Tejero, Ching-Ju Tsai, Niranjan Varma, Anna Wach, Sébastien Boutet, Kensuke Tono, Przemyslaw Nogly, Xavier Deupi, So Iwata, Richard Neutze, Jörg Standfuss1, Gebhard Schertler, Valerie Panneels Journal Nature Vol 615, 939-944, 2023 DOI 10.1038/s41586-023-05863-6 Contact (Research) Professor　Eriko NANGO E-mail: eriko.nango.c4 [at]tohoku.ac.jp Please replace [at] with "@" in the email address. (Press) E-mail: press.tagen [at]grp.tohoku.ac.jp Please replace [at] with "@" in the email address. CORE RESEARCH CLUSTERTOHOKU UNIVERSITY 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8577 JAPAN Phone : +81-22-217-5981 Fax : +81-22-217-5311 ABOUT US RESEARCH PROJECT INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE NEWS ＆ EVENTS Contact ACCESS MAP 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8577 JAPAN Phone : +81-22-217-5302 Fax : +81-22-217-5311 Copyright © 2019 Tohoku University. All Rights Reserved.