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Faculty Profile Last Modified Time: 10:45:56 AM Fri, 17 Apr 2020   Contact Information John Spudich Associated Profiles  Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair, Chemistry, Director, Center for Membrane Biology, Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, UT Health Science Center at Houston   Medical School Building, Room No.: 6.200    John.L.Spudich@uth.tmc.edu     713-500-5473    Web Link    Light Sensors & Photosensory Transduction, Microbial Rhodopsins, Membrane Receptor Structure/Function, Optogenetics    Associated Profiles Research and Expertise Affiliations Appointments  Research and Expertise Research Interests   The primary interests in our laboratory are the mechanisms by which photosensory receptors sense and transmit information concerning the color, intensity, and pattern of light in the environment. We study a widespread class of photoactive receptor proteins (rhodopsins) that consist of seven transmembrane helices connected by interhelical loops. The helices form a pocket for the photosensitive molecule vitamin-A aldehyde (retinal) that attaches in a covalent linkage to a lysine residue in the middle of the 7th helix buried in the core of the protein. These proteins are used for visual processes of various degrees of sophistication, ranging from detection of light-dark boundaries, light gradients, and light direction by single-cell microorganisms to high-resolution color image detection by higher animal eyes. Photoisomerization of the retinylidene chromophore initiates a variety of types of signaling reactions. Mammalian visual pigments signal by binding and activating heterotrimeric G-proteins. Four distinctly different modes of signaling have been demonstrated for microbial rhodopsins: conformational coupling to bound membrane transducer subunits that relay signals to sensory pathways in the cytoplasm, binding to a cytoplasmic transducer, light-gated ion channel conduction, and light-regulated enzymatic activity encoded by the sensory rhodopsin protein. In addition, homologous microbial rhodopsins pumps drive active ion transport. Our laboratory studies in terms of structure/function how evolution has produced these distinctly different molecular functions from a shared protein scaffold.  Publications/Creative Works Click here to search for this faculty member's publications on PubMed.  Affiliations  Research Consortia John S. Dunn GCC for Chemical Genomics John S. Dunn, Sr. GCC for Magnetic Resonance  Training Grants Houston Area Molecular Biophysics Training Program  Research Consortia GCC Cluster for Cellular and Molecular Biophysics  Appointments Title Department / School Institution Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair Chemistry UT Health Science Center Houston

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