This volume explores the technological improvements in protein engineering, expression, purification, and crystallization of several rhodopsin photoactive intermediates, thus increasing our understanding of rhodopsin activation. The first chapters of the book focus on methods developed to study fundamentals of rhodopsin structure and function, starting with improved purification protocols of native and mutated rhodopsin, followed by methods used for rhodopsin reconstitution into lipid bilayers stabilizing rhodopsin function properties, and finally describing recently developed methods to study structural dynamics of rhodopsin activation and its mechanistic properties. Subsequently, chapters underline various techniques that have been developed to visualize the rhodopsin dimer and to study its functional significance. The next few chapters highlight cutting-edge imaging techniques of photoreceptors, rhodopsin trafficking, and its diffusion within signaling membranes. Finally the book concludes with recent developments that could be potentially beneficial in patient treatments, and treatment strategies for retinal degenerative diseases. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, the chapters include the kind of detailed description and implementation advice that is crucial for getting optimal results in the laboratory.
Timely and practical, Rhodopsin: Methods and Protocols reaches out to researchers and health practitioners, and provides timely protocol useful for studying structural and functional properties of rhodopsin.