TY - JOUR
T1 - Colocalization of pinopsin with two types of G-protein α-subunits in the chicken pineal gland
AU - Matsushita, A.
AU - Yoshikawa, T.
AU - Okano, T.
AU - Kasahara, T.
AU - Fukada, Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture. T.Y. and T.K. were supported by Fellowships from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Young Scientists
PY - 2000
Y1 - 2000
N2 - Pinopsin is a photoreceptive molecule present in the outer segments of chicken pinealocytes. In this paper, the localization of α-subunits of G-proteins, rod transducin (Gt1) and Gq/11, was examined by immunoelectron microscopy to investigate whether these G-proteins colocalize with pinopsin in the outer segments. Ultrathin sections of the chicken pineal gland were double-immunolabeled with antibodies to pinopsin and either Gt1α or Gq/11α. As shown previously, the outer segments around the follicular lumen exhibited divergent morphology with ciliary, bulbous, or lamellate shapes, and most of them displayed pinopsin immunoreactivity. The majority (> 90%) of pinopsin-immunopositive outer segments were labeled by anti-Gt1α and/or anti-Gq/11α antibodies. Application of double-immunolabeling to serial sections demonstrated that a large number of the pinopsin-immunopositive outer segments contained both Gt1α and Gq/11α immunoreactivities. These results suggest that Gt1α and Gq/11α are functionally coupled with light-activated pinopsin within a single outer segment.
AB - Pinopsin is a photoreceptive molecule present in the outer segments of chicken pinealocytes. In this paper, the localization of α-subunits of G-proteins, rod transducin (Gt1) and Gq/11, was examined by immunoelectron microscopy to investigate whether these G-proteins colocalize with pinopsin in the outer segments. Ultrathin sections of the chicken pineal gland were double-immunolabeled with antibodies to pinopsin and either Gt1α or Gq/11α. As shown previously, the outer segments around the follicular lumen exhibited divergent morphology with ciliary, bulbous, or lamellate shapes, and most of them displayed pinopsin immunoreactivity. The majority (> 90%) of pinopsin-immunopositive outer segments were labeled by anti-Gt1α and/or anti-Gq/11α antibodies. Application of double-immunolabeling to serial sections demonstrated that a large number of the pinopsin-immunopositive outer segments contained both Gt1α and Gq/11α immunoreactivities. These results suggest that Gt1α and Gq/11α are functionally coupled with light-activated pinopsin within a single outer segment.
KW - Chicken
KW - Circadian clock
KW - Gq/11
KW - Immunoelectron microscopy
KW - Phototransduction
KW - Pinealocyte
KW - Rod transducin
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U2 - 10.1007/s004410050022
DO - 10.1007/s004410050022
M3 - Article
C2 - 10741465
AN - SCOPUS:0033970660
VL - 299
SP - 245
EP - 251
JO - Zeitschrift für Zellforschung und mikroskopische Anatomie (Vienna, Austria : 1948)
JF - Zeitschrift für Zellforschung und mikroskopische Anatomie (Vienna, Austria : 1948)
SN - 0302-766X
IS - 2
ER -