Encyclopedia of Signaling Molecules

2018 Edition
| Editors: Sangdun Choi

GCAP (Guanylate Cyclase–Activating Protein)

  • Karl-Wilhelm Koch
Reference work entry
First Online:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67199-4_12
How to cite

Synonyms

 Guanylyl ayclase–activating protein

Historical Background

The primary processes of vertebrate visual excitation are located in the rod and cone photoreceptor cells of the retina. Illumination of the rod and cone cells triggers a biochemical cascade leading to hyperpolarization of the cell. This conversion of a light signal into an electrical signal is called phototransduction, and in the 1970s the concept of an intracellular second messenger mediating this process was developed. Two competing hypotheses were intensively discussed, the “calcium hypothesis” and the “cGMP hypothesis” to reconcile different lines of experimental results. With the identification of a cGMP-gated cation channel (cyclic nucleotide–gated channel, CNG-channel) in the plasma membrane of rod and cone cells, the second messenger of light excitation was finally identified (for a historical overview see Luo et al. 2008). Calcium on the other hand was found to be important for the sensitivity regulation...

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References

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of NeurosciencesUniversity of OldenburgOldenburgGermany