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Photochemistry of Iodopsin

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Abstract

The only action of light on the pigment of cone vision, iodopsin, as on the rod pigment rhodopsin, is to isomerize its chromophore from 11-cis to all-trans. All further changes are “dark” consequences of this one light reaction. Although this reaction initiates bleaching, its immediate product is a more intense pigment. At low temperatures in the dark, this tends to revert to iodopsin rather than to bleach.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Laboratories of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

    TORU YOSHIZAWA & GEORGE WALD

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  1. TORU YOSHIZAWA
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  2. GEORGE WALD
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YOSHIZAWA, T., WALD, G. Photochemistry of Iodopsin. Nature 214, 566–571 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/214566a0

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