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Science 18 October 1991:
Vol. 254. no. 5030, pp. 412 - 415
DOI: 10.1126/science.1925597
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Articles

Science, Vol 254, Issue 5030, 412-415
Copyright © 1991 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

The first step in vision: femtosecond isomerization of rhodopsin

RW Schoenlein, LA Peteanu, RA Mathies, and CV Shank

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley 94720.

The kinetics of the primary event in vision have been resolved with the use of femtosecond optical measurement techniques. The 11-cis retinal prosthetic group of rhodopsin is excited with a 35-femtosecond pump pulse at 500 nanometers, and the transient changes in absorption are measured between 450 and 580 nanometers with a 10-femtosecond probe pulse. Within 200 femtoseconds, an increased absorption is observed between 540 and 580 nanometers, indicating the formation of photoproduct on this time scale. These measurements demonstrate that the first step in vision, the 11-cis----11-trans torsional isomerization of the rhodopsin chromophore, is essentially complete in only 200 femtoseconds.


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