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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Single-cell Suction Recordings from Mouse Cone Photoreceptors
Published on: January 5, 2010
Conserved transcriptional regulation of a cone phototransduction gene in vertebrates
A S Viczian1, M Verardo, M E Zuber
1Departments of Ophthalmology and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 750 East Adams, Syracuse, NY 13066, USA. vicziana@upstate.edu
Abstract:
cGMP-phosphodiesterase (PDE) is a key component in visual phototransduction. Rod and cone photoreceptors each produce their unique cGMP-PDE subunits. The alpha' catalytic subunits are believed to be cone-specific. In this study, we report that transfection of the -132 to +139 sequence in the upstream region of the human alpha'-PDE gene fused to luciferase cDNA gives the highest level of reporter gene transcription in cultured retinoblastoma Y79 cells. Transgenic Xenopus laevis carrying this sequence fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP) expressed GFP in cones, suggesting a conserved regulatory mechanism for alpha'-PDE transcription in both human and frog.
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