Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview on vertebrate visual transduction. The process of vertebrate vision begins with photon capture and visual transduction in the rods and cones. The rods are single photon detectors that are used in dim light, whereas the cones provide visual acuity and color vision in bright light. There are slight differences in the structures of rods and cones, but these photoreceptors have the same basic design for optimal photon capture and visual transduction. The first step in the response to light is the absorption of a photon by a visual pigment molecule. The visual pigment consists of a particular protein containing a ubiquitous chromophore, retinal. The chapter also explains that visual transduction consists of a kind of signal conversion: the message of photon absorption is converted into a decrease in membrane conductance, which results in a hyperpolarization that decreases the release of neurotransmitter onto other retinal neurons. The light-induced decrease in membrane conductance is accomplished by the closure of non-selective cation channels in a specialized region of the photoreceptor called the outer segment.
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