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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Strategic Screening and Characterization of the Visual GPCR-mini-G Protein Signaling Complex for Successful Crystallization
Published on: March 16, 2020
Visual rhodopsin sees the light: structure and mechanism of G protein signaling
Kevin D Ridge1, Krzysztof Palczewski2
1Center for Membrane Biology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas 77030.
Abstract:
The availability of crystal structures for the dark, inactive, and several light-activated photointermediate states of vertebrate visual rhodopsin has provided important mechanistic and energetic insights into the transformations underlying agonist-dependent activation of this and other G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The high natural abundance of rhodopsin in the vertebrate retina, together with its specific localization to the disk membranes of the rod cell, has also enabled direct imaging of rhodopsin in its native environment. These advances have provided compelling evidence that rhodopsin, like many other GPCRs, forms highly organized oligomeric structures that, in all likelihood, are important for receptor biosynthesis, optimal activation, and signaling.
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