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Bicycle-pedal model for the first step in the vision process

Nature volume 260, pages 679–683 (1976)Cite this article

Abstract

Computer simulation of the molecular dynamics of retinal during its photoisomerisation inside a restrictive active site gives a detailed model for the sequence of events in the first step of the vision process. It is proposed that the prelumirhodopsin intermediate contains a strained all-trans retinal molecule produced directly and rapidly from the 11-cis, 12-s-trans conformation in rhodopsin by a bicycle-pedal isomerisation. The model reproduces the main experimental observations and explains how the protein makes the photoisomerisation path unique.

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  1. Arieh Warshel

    Present address: Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, 90007

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

    Arieh Warshel

  2. MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 2QH, UK

    Arieh Warshel

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  1. Arieh Warshel
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Warshel, A. Bicycle-pedal model for the first step in the vision process. Nature 260, 679–683 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/260679a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/260679a0

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