Investigating transducin dynamics and developmental expression in photoreceptor cells of the Little Skate retina
Oksana Romaniuk
Department of Biology
Faculty Supervisor: Ivan Anastassov
The Little Skate has a unique retina with only a single type of photoreceptor, closely resembling a rod. Despite cones being necessary for work under bright-light conditions, the skate retina still functions in their complete absence. That is, skate rods avoid saturation under bright light (i.e., photopic conditions). We hypothesize that the ability of the skate retina to adapt to various light intensities may be due to the rods’ ability to translocate signaling proteins like transducin between photoreceptor compartments. In this study, we employ multiplex in-situ hybridization and immunostaining techniques to investigate the expression and translocation patterns of transducin - the G-protein that is activated during the first steps of the phototransduction cascade. We aim to describe transducin gene expression during different stages of retinal development, as well as in light- and dark-adapted retinas. Additionally, we will investigate transducin protein localization under different lighting conditions to determine if its translocation occurs similarly to that in mixed rod-cone retinas, in which transducin initiates the phototransduction cascade through its cycles of activation and deactivation. Through characterizing the developmental timeline of transducin expression and localization across dark and light-adapted retinas, we aim to understand the functional role of transducin in the ability of the skate retina to function across the full range of lighting conditions.