Discovery
The discovery of CNG channels is related to the discovery of intracellular messengers responsible for the mediation of responses in retinal photoreceptors. Before their discovery, it was thought that cyclic nucleotides played a role in phosphorylation. In 1985, it was discovered that cGMP was able to directly activate the light-dependent response of rod ion channels by studying light-adapted retina of frogs. CNG channels were also found in cone photoreceptors, chemo sensitive cilia of olfactory sensory neurons, and the pineal gland. After the identification of amino acids from purified proteins, cloning and functional expression of CNG channels were performed. Molecular cloning allowed for the discovery of similar channels in many other tissues. In 2000, scientists performed studies using mouse retina and molecular cloning to find a new subunit of the channel, CNG6.
Read more about this topic: Cyclic Nucleotide-gated Ion Channel
Famous quotes containing the word discovery:
“It was one of those evenings when men feel that truth, goodness and beauty are one. In the morning, when they commit their discovery to paper, when others read it written there, it looks wholly ridiculous.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“As the mother of a son, I do not accept that alienation from me is necessary for his discovery of himself. As a woman, I will not cooperate in demeaning womanly things so that he can be proud to be a man. I like to think the women in my son’s future are counting on me.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)
“One of the laudable by-products of the Freudian quackery is the discovery that lying, in most cases, is involuntary and inevitable—that the liar can no more avoid it than he can avoid blinking his eyes when a light flashes or jumping when a bomb goes off behind him.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)