@article{246,
  keywords = {Vision, Ocular, Animals, Mutation, Arrestin, Mice, Phosphorylation, Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells, Rhodopsin, Electrophysiology, Mice, Transgenic, Models, Biological, Patch-Clamp Techniques, Photons},
  author = {Thuy Doan and Ana Mendez and Peter Detwiler and Jeannie Chen and Fred Rieke},
  title = {Multiple phosphorylation sites confer reproducibility of the rod's single-photon responses.},
  abstract = {<p>Although signals controlled by single molecules are expected to be inherently variable, rod photoreceptors generate reproducible responses to single absorbed photons. We show that this unexpected reproducibility-the consistency of amplitude and duration of rhodopsin activity-varies in a graded and systematic manner with the number but not the identity of phosphorylation sites on rhodopsin's C terminus. These results indicate that each phosphorylation site provides an independent step in rhodopsin deactivation and that collectively these steps tightly control rhodopsin's active lifetime. Other G protein cascades may exploit a similar mechanism to encode accurately the timing and number of receptor activation.</p>
},
  year = {2006},
  journal = {Science},
  volume = {313},
  pages = {530-3},
  month = {2006 Jul 28},
  issn = {1095-9203},
  doi = {10.1126/science.1126612},
  language = {eng},
}