Seeing cones in living eyes
Article Abstract:
The cone photoreceptors in the eye that are 3 micrometers in diameter can be seen in the fovea by intact optics of the eye. The process involves illuminating the eye with laser pulses, dilating the pupil and imaging the retina onto a CCD camera. This invalidates the theory of Thomas Young which says that the photoreceptors are invisible through the optics of the living eye. According to Young, the grain of the image and the cone array are matched, but studies show that the grain is much finer than the array in the vertebrates eyes.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1996
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Behavioural evidence for use of a light-dependent magnetoreception mechanism by a vertebrate
Article Abstract:
The wavelength of light influences the magnetic compass orientation of male eastern red-spotted newts (Notophthalmus viridescens). This wavelength-dependence probably results from the power of light to stimulate the functioning of the magnetoreceptors that allow the newts and other vertebrates to use the geomagnetic field to find direction. Observations of how the newts reacted to changes in magnetic compass orientation support the idea that magnetoreception depends on photoreception.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
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Cyclophilin-related protein RanBP2 acts as chaperone for red/green opsin
Article Abstract:
The function of two contiguous domains in RanBP2, the Ran-binding domain 4 (RBD4) and cyclophilin, was analyzed in relation to the expression of the photoreceptor opsin. It was revealed that both proteins act as chaperones to the photoreceptors in Drosophila. However, the cyclophilin domain of RanBP2 does not bind directly with the red/green opsin photoreceptor but rather, augments and stabilizes the interaction between the opsin and the RBD4 domain.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1996
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