Abstract
Recent experiments by Fesenko et al1 and ourselves2 have shown that excised membrane patches from retinal rod outer segments contain a cyclic GMP-sensitive conductance which has electrical properties similar to those of the light-sensitive conductance. This finding supports the notion that cGMP mediates phototransduction (see ref. 3) by directly modulating the light-sensitive conductance. However, some uncertainty remained about whether the patch experiments had discriminated completely between plasma and intracellular disk membranes4; thus the cGMP response in an excised membrane could have resulted from contaminating disk membrane fragments, which are known to contain a cGMP-regulated conductance5–8. Furthermore, the patch conductance has not yet been shown to be light-suppressible, an ultimate criterion for identity with the light-sensitive conductance. We now report experiments on a truncated rod outer segment preparation which resolved these issues. The results demonstrated that the cGMP-sensitive conductance was present in the plasma membrane of the outer segment, and that in the presence of GTP the conductance could be suppressed by a light flash. With added ATP, the effectiveness of the light flash was reduced and the suppression was more transient. The effects of both GTP and ATP were consistent with the known biochemistry (see refs 9–11). From the maximum current inducible by cGMP, we estimate that ∼1% of the light-sensitive conductance is normally open in the dark; this would give an effective free cGMP concentration of a few micromolar in the intact outer segment in the dark.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Fesenko, E. E., Kolesnikov, S. S. & Lyubarsky, A. L. Nature 313, 310–313 (1985).
Nakatani, K. & Yau, K.-W. Biophys. J. 47, 356a (1985).
Miller, W. H. (ed.) Molecular Mechanisms of Photoreceptor Transduction (Academic, New York, 1981).
Stieve, H. (ed.) The Molecular Mechanism of Photoreception: Dahlem Konferenzen (Springer, Berlin, in the press).
Caretta, A., Cavaggioni, A. & Sorbi, R. T. J. Physiol., Lond. 295, 171–178 (1979).
Caretta, A. & Cavaggioni, A. Eur. J. Biochem. 132, 1–8 (1983).
Koch, K. W. & Kaupp, U. B. J. biol. Chem. 260, 6788–6800 (1985).
Puckett, K. L., Rawji, A. J. & Goldin, S. M. Biophys. J. 47, 102a (1985).
Liebman, P. A. & Pugh, E. N. Jr, in Molecular Mechanisms of Photoreceptor Transduction (ed. Miller, W. H.) 157–170 (Academic, New York, 1981).
Kühn, H. in Progress in Retinal Research Vol. 3 (eds Osborne, N. N. & Chader, J.) 123–156 (Pergamon, New York, 1984).
Stryer, L. A. Rev. Neurosci. 9 (in the press).
Baylor, D. A., Lamb, T. D. & Yau, K.-W. J. Physiol., Lond. 288, 589–611 (1979).
Haynes, L. W. & Yau, K.-W. Nature (submitted).
Dixon, M. & Webb, E. C. Enzymes (Academic, New York, 1979).
Lamb, T. D., McNaughton, P. A. & Yau, K.-W. J. Physiol., Lond. 319, 463–496 (1981).
Yau, K.-W., McNaughton, P. A. & Hodgkin, A. L. Nature 292, 502–505 (1981).
Matthews, H. R., Torre, V. & Lamb, T. D. Nature 313, 582–585 (1985).
Cobbs, W. H. & Pugh, E. N. Jr Nature 313, 585–587 (1985).
MacLeish, P. R., Schwartz, E. A. & Tachibana, M. J. Physiol., Lond. 348, 645–664 (1984).
Goldberg, N. D., Ames, A. III, Gander, J. E. & Walseth, T. F. J. biol. Chem. 258, 9213–9219 (1983).
Baylor, D. A. & Nunn, B. J. J. Physiol., Lond. (in the press).
Bodoia, R. D. & Detwiler, P. J. Physiol., Lond. (in the press).
Cohen, A. I., Hall, I. A. & Ferrendelli, J. A. J. gen. Physiol. 71, 595–612 (1978).
Woodruff, M. L. & Bownds, M. D. J. gen. Physiol. 73, 629–653 (1979).
Kilbride, P. & Ebrey, T. G. J. gen. Physiol. 74, 415–426 (1979).
Woodruff, M. L. & Fain, G. L. J. gen. Physiol. 80, 537–555 (1982).
Hodgkin, A. L., McNaughton, P. A., Nunn, B. J. & Yau, K.-W. J. Physiol., Lond. 350, 649–680 (1984).
Yau, K.-W. & Nakatani, K. Nature 309, 352–354 (1984).
Yoshikami, S. & Hagins, W. A. in Biochemistry and Physiology of Visual Pigments (ed. Langer, H.) 245–255 (Springer, New York, 1973).
Gray, P. & Attwell, D. Proc. R. Soc. B 233, 379–388 (1985).
Yau, K.-W. & Nakatani, K. Nature 313, 579–582 (1985).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yau, KW., Nakatani, K. Light-suppressible, cyclic GMP-sensitive conductance in the plasma membrane of a truncated rod outer segment. Nature 317, 252–255 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/317252a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/317252a0
This article is cited by
-
Biochemistry and physiology of zebrafish photoreceptors
Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology (2021)
-
The ordered visual transduction complex of the squid photoreceptor membrane
Molecular Neurobiology (1999)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.