Switching specific G-protein-coupled signalling pathways on and off
Friday, April 8, 2016 - 14:30
in Biology & Nature
Researchers in Bochum have utilised light-sensitive proteins from nerve cells of the eye – so-called melanopsins – to switch on specific signalling pathways in brain cells with high temporal precision. Depending on what kind of melanopsin the researchers used, signalling pathways were switched on either transiently or sustained. In mammals, the protein typically regulates the circadian rhythm.