近日，南昌大学
研究团队展示了三种人类视锥蛋白的低温电镜结构，每个视锥蛋白都与一个G蛋白结合，并且在假定的活性状态下全反式视网膜。这三种视锥蛋白与视紫红质明显不同。在视网膜结合袋内，该团队发现了一个独特的对偶位点（LWS-和MWS-opsin）和环绕视网膜的丝氨酸环（SWS-opsin）。活性视锥蛋白结构解释了氨基酸取代如何微调光谱灵敏度，并有助于阐明色觉缺陷的分子基础和杆状视锥蛋白与杆状视锥蛋白激活的关键差异。
据悉，人类的三色视觉依赖于三种视锥蛋白[长、中、短波敏视蛋白（分别为LWS-、MWS-和sws -视蛋白）]，而暗视杆视觉则由视紫红质介导。虽然视紫质的结构在20多年前就已被解决，但锥视蛋白的结构一直缺乏。
附：英文原文
Title: Cryo–electron microscopy structures of human cone visual pigments
Author: Qi Peng, Jian Li, Haihai Jiang, Xinyu Cheng, Probal Nag, Gunnar Kleinau, Trevor D. Lamb, Leon Busche, Qiuyuan Lu, Sili Zhou, Yidi Liu, Yuting Zhang, Sijia Lv, Shuangyan Wan, Tingting Yang, Yixiang Chen, Wei Zhang, Weiwei Nan, Ying Fu, Tong Che, Yanyan Li, Hongfei Liao, Jingjing Duan, Igor Schapiro, Patrick Scheerer, Jin Zhang
Issue&Volume: 2026-06-25
Abstract: Human trichromatic color vision relies on three cone opsins [long-, middle-, and short-wavelength-sensitive opsins (LWS-, MWS-, and SWS-opsins, respectively)], whereas scotopic rod vision is mediated by rhodopsin. Although the structure of rhodopsin was solved more than 20 years ago, cone opsin structures have been lacking. Here, we present cryo–electron microscopy structures of the three human cone opsins, each bound to a G protein and all-trans retinal in the presumed active state. All three cone opsins differ markedly from rhodopsin. Within the retinal binding pocket, we identified a distinct counterion site (LWS- and MWS-opsins) and a ring of serines around the retinal (SWS-opsin). The active cone opsin structures explain how amino acid substitutions fine-tune spectral sensitivity and help clarify the molecular basis of color vision deficiencies and key differences in rod versus cone activation.
DOI: adz8141
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz8141