18 апреля 2011 г., понедельник, 12.00
Лекция профессора Мордехая Шевеса (Израиль)
Малый конференц-зал
«Molecular mechanism for the function of retinal proteins»
Профессор Мордехай Шевес работает в Институте Вейцмана с 1981 года, ведущий мировой ученый в области изучения фоторецепторов в клетках глаза и молекулярных процессов, включенных в процесс зрения.
В настоящее время является вице-президентом департамента и деканом Вейцмановского института
Prof. Mordechai Sheves, Dean, Vice President for Technology Transfer Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
Biological activity of visual pigments and bacteriorhodopsin is related to a photocycle during which both the retinal and the opsin moieties undergo a series of structural changes. The molecular changes and their correlation with the corresponding biological functions (i. e., the release of the diffusable transmitter in visual pigments and the pumping of H+ ions in bacteriorhodopsin) is of primary importance. Clarifying these functions may be achieved by obtaining a structural description of the polyene chromophore, its spectroscopic properties at the binding site, its opsin environment, and the changes occurring in retinal-opsin interactions following light absorption. Using artificial pigments, model compounds in solution and spectroscopic methods (absorption, FTIR, NMR and AFM), we have shed light on the role that single and double bonds play in the photocycle, protein-chromophore interactions in the binding site and the role of water and light in retinal protein activity.
