Names | |
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IUPAC name Retinal | |
Systematic IUPAC name (2E,4E,6E,8E)-3,7-Dimethyl-9-(2,6,6-trimethylcyclohex-1-en-1-yl)nona-2,4,6,8-tetraenal | |
Other names
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Identifiers | |
3D model (JSmol) | |
ChEBI | |
ChemSpider | |
ECHA InfoCard | 100.003.760 |
PubChem CID | |
UNII | |
CompTox Dashboard (EPA) | |
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Properties | |
C20H28O | |
Molar mass | 284.443 g·mol−1 |
Appearance | Orange crystals from petroleum ether [1] |
Melting point | 61 to 64 °C (142 to 147 °F; 334 to 337 K) [1] |
Nearly insoluble | |
Solubility in fat | Soluble |
Related compounds | |
Related compounds | retinol; retinoic acid; beta-carotene; dehydroretinal; 3-hydroxyretinal; 4-hydroxyretinal |
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa). |
Retinal (also known as retinaldehyde) is a polyene chromophore. Retinal, bound to proteins called opsins, is the chemical basis of visual phototransduction, the light-detection stage of visual perception (vision).
Some microorganisms use retinal to convert light into metabolic energy. One study suggests that approximately three billion years ago, most living organisms on Earth used retinal, rather than chlorophyll, to convert sunlight into energy. Because retinal absorbs mostly green light and transmits purple light, this gave rise to the Purple Earth Hypothesis. [2]
Retinal itself is considered to be a form of vitamin A when eaten by an animal. There are many forms of vitamin A, all of which are converted to retinal, which cannot be made without them. The number of different molecules that can be converted to retinal varies from species to species. Retinal was originally called retinene , [3] and was renamed [4] after it was discovered to be vitamin A aldehyde . [5] [6]
Vertebrate animals ingest retinal directly from meat, or they produce retinal from carotenoids — either from α-carotene or β-carotene — both of which are carotenes. They also produce it from β-cryptoxanthin, a type of xanthophyll. These carotenoids must be obtained from plants or other photosynthetic organisms. No other carotenoids can be converted by animals to retinal. Some carnivores cannot convert any carotenoids at all. The other main forms of vitamin A — retinol and a partially active form, retinoic acid — may both be produced from retinal.
Invertebrates such as insects and squid use hydroxylated forms of retinal in their visual systems, which derive from conversion from other xanthophylls.
Living organisms produce retinal by irreversible oxidative cleavage of carotenoids. [7]
For example:
catalyzed by a beta-carotene 15,15'-monooxygenase [8] or a beta-carotene 15,15'-dioxygenase. [9]
Just as carotenoids are the precursors of retinal, retinal is the precursor of the other forms of vitamin A. Retinal is interconvertible with retinol, the transport and storage form of vitamin A:
catalyzed by retinol dehydrogenases (RDHs) [10] and alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs). [11]
Retinol is called vitamin A alcohol or, more often, simply vitamin A. Retinal can also be oxidized to retinoic acid:
catalyzed by retinal dehydrogenases [12] also known as retinaldehyde dehydrogenases (RALDHs) [11] as well as retinal oxidases. [13]
Retinoic acid, sometimes called vitamin A acid, is an important signaling molecule and hormone in vertebrate animals.
Retinal is a conjugated chromophore. In the Vertebrate eyes, retinal begins in an 11-cis-retinal configuration, which — upon capturing a photon of the correct wavelength — straightens out into an all-trans-retinal configuration. This configuration change pushes against an opsin protein in the retina, which triggers a chemical signaling cascade, which results in perception of light or images by the brain. The absorbance spectrum of the chromophore depends on its interactions with the opsin protein to which it is bound, so that different retinal-opsin complexes will absorb photons of different wavelengths (i.e., different colors of light).
Retinal is bound to opsins, which are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). [14] [15] Opsins, like other GPCRs, have seven transmembrane alpha-helices connected by six loops. They are found in the photoreceptor cells in the retina of eye. The opsin in the vertebrate rod cells is rhodopsin. The rods form disks, which contain the rhodopsin molecules in their membranes and which are entirely inside of the cell. The N-terminus head of the molecule extends into the interior of the disk, and the C-terminus tail extends into the cytoplasm of the cell. The opsins in the cone cells are OPN1SW, OPN1MW, and OPN1LW. The cones form incomplete disks that are part of the plasma membrane, so that the N-terminus head extends outside of the cell. In opsins, retinal binds covalently to a lysine [16] in the seventh transmembrane helix [17] [18] [19] through a Schiff base. [20] [21] Forming the Schiff base linkage involves removing the oxygen atom from retinal and two hydrogen atoms from the free amino group of lysine, giving H2O. Retinylidene is the divalent group formed by removing the oxygen atom from retinal, and so opsins have been called retinylidene proteins.
Opsins are prototypical G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). [22] Cattle rhodopsin, the opsin of the rod cells, was the first GPCR to have its amino acid sequence [23] and 3D-structure (via X-ray crystallography) determined. [18] Cattle rhodopsin contains 348 amino acid residues. Retinal binds as chromophore at Lys296. [18] [23] This lysine is conserved in almost all opsins, only a few opsins have lost it during evolution. [24] Opsins without the retinal binding lysine are not light sensitive. [25] [26] [27] Such opsins may have other functions. [26] [24]
Although mammals use retinal exclusively as the opsin chromophore, other groups of animals additionally use four chromophores closely related to retinal: 3,4-didehydroretinal (vitamin A2), (3R)-3-hydroxyretinal, (3S)-3-hydroxyretinal (both vitamin A3), and (4R)-4-hydroxyretinal (vitamin A4). Many fish and amphibians use 3,4-didehydroretinal, also called dehydroretinal. With the exception of the dipteran suborder Cyclorrhapha (the so-called higher flies), all insects examined use the (R)-enantiomer of 3-hydroxyretinal. The (R)-enantiomer is to be expected if 3-hydroxyretinal is produced directly from xanthophyll carotenoids. Cyclorrhaphans, including Drosophila , use (3S)-3-hydroxyretinal. [28] [29] Firefly squid have been found to use (4R)-4-hydroxyretinal.
The visual cycle is a circular enzymatic pathway, which is the front-end of phototransduction. It regenerates 11-cis-retinal. For example, the visual cycle of mammalian rod cells is as follows:
Steps 3, 4, 5, and 6 occur in rod cell outer segments; Steps 1, 2, and 7 occur in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells.
RPE65 isomerohydrolases are homologous with beta-carotene monooxygenases; [7] the homologous ninaB enzyme in Drosophila has both retinal-forming carotenoid-oxygenase activity and all-trans to 11-cis isomerase activity. [32]
All-trans-retinal is also an essential component of microbial opsins such as bacteriorhodopsin, channelrhodopsin, and halorhodopsin, which are important in bacterial and archaeal anoxygenic photosynthesis. In these molecules, light causes the all-trans-retinal to become 13-cis retinal, which then cycles back to all-trans-retinal in the dark state. These proteins are not evolutionarily related to animal opsins and are not GPCRs; the fact that they both use retinal is a result of convergent evolution. [33]
The American biochemist George Wald and others had outlined the visual cycle by 1958. For his work, Wald won a share of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Haldan Keffer Hartline and Ragnar Granit. [34]
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is an essential nutrient. The term "vitamin A" encompasses a group of chemically related organic compounds that includes retinol, retinyl esters, and several provitamin (precursor) carotenoids, most notably β-carotene (beta-carotene). Vitamin A has multiple functions: growth during embryo development, maintaining the immune system, and healthy vision. For aiding vision specifically, it combines with the protein opsin to form rhodopsin, the light-absorbing molecule necessary for both low-light and color vision.
Retinol, also called vitamin A1, is a fat-soluble vitamin in the vitamin A family that is found in food and used as a dietary supplement. Retinol or other forms of vitamin A are needed for vision, cellular development, maintenance of skin and mucous membranes, immune function and reproductive development. Dietary sources include fish, dairy products, and meat. As a supplement it is used to treat and prevent vitamin A deficiency, especially that which results in xerophthalmia. It is taken by mouth or by injection into a muscle. As an ingredient in skin-care products, it is used to reduce wrinkles and other effects of skin aging.
Rhodopsin, also known as visual purple, is a protein encoded by the RHO gene and a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). It is a light-sensitive receptor protein that triggers visual phototransduction in rods. Rhodopsin mediates dim light vision and thus is extremely sensitive to light. When rhodopsin is exposed to light, it immediately photobleaches. In humans, it is regenerated fully in about 30 minutes, after which the rods are more sensitive. Defects in the rhodopsin gene cause eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and congenital stationary night blindness.
In visual physiology, adaptation is the ability of the retina of the eye to adjust to various levels of light. Natural night vision, or scotopic vision, is the ability to see under low-light conditions. In humans, rod cells are exclusively responsible for night vision as cone cells are only able to function at higher illumination levels. Night vision is of lower quality than day vision because it is limited in resolution and colors cannot be discerned; only shades of gray are seen. In order for humans to transition from day to night vision they must undergo a dark adaptation period of up to two hours in which each eye adjusts from a high to a low luminescence "setting", increasing sensitivity hugely, by many orders of magnitude. This adaptation period is different between rod and cone cells and results from the regeneration of photopigments to increase retinal sensitivity. Light adaptation, in contrast, works very quickly, within seconds.
β-Carotene (beta-carotene) is an organic, strongly colored red-orange pigment abundant in fungi, plants, and fruits. It is a member of the carotenes, which are terpenoids (isoprenoids), synthesized biochemically from eight isoprene units and thus having 40 carbons.
The retinoids are a class of chemical compounds that are natural derivatives of vitamin A or are chemically related to it. Synthetic retinoids are used in medicine where they regulate skin health, immunity and bone disorders.
Proteorhodopsin is a family of transmembrane proteins that use retinal as a chromophore for light-mediated functionality, in this case, a proton pump. pRhodopsin is found in marine planktonic bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes (protae), but was first discovered in bacteria.
Animal opsins are G-protein-coupled receptors and a group of proteins made light-sensitive via a chromophore, typically retinal. When bound to retinal, opsins become retinylidene proteins, but are usually still called opsins regardless. Most prominently, they are found in photoreceptor cells of the retina. Five classical groups of opsins are involved in vision, mediating the conversion of a photon of light into an electrochemical signal, the first step in the visual transduction cascade. Another opsin found in the mammalian retina, melanopsin, is involved in circadian rhythms and pupillary reflex but not in vision. Humans have in total nine opsins. Beside vision and light perception, opsins may also sense temperature, sound, or chemicals.
Visual phototransduction is the sensory transduction process of the visual system by which light is detected by photoreceptor cells in the vertebrate retina. A photon is absorbed by a retinal chromophore, which initiates a signal cascade through several intermediate cells, then through the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) comprising the optic nerve.
Retinoic acid (simplified nomenclature for all-trans-retinoic acid) is a metabolite of vitamin A1 (all-trans-retinol) that is required for embryonic development, male fertility, regulation of bone growth and immune function. All-trans-retinoic acid is required for chordate animal development, which includes all higher animals from fish to humans. During early embryonic development, all-trans-retinoic acid generated in a specific region of the embryo helps determine position along the embryonic anterior/posterior axis by serving as an intercellular signaling molecule that guides development of the posterior portion of the embryo. It acts through Hox genes, which ultimately control anterior/posterior patterning in early developmental stages. In adult tissues, the activity of endogenous retinoic acid appears limited to immune function. and male fertility. Retinoic acid administered as a drug (see tretinoin and alitretinoin) causes significant toxicity that is distinct from normal retinoid biology.
Carotenoid oxygenases are a family of enzymes involved in the cleavage of carotenoids to produce, for example, retinol, commonly known as vitamin A. This family includes an enzyme known as RPE65 which is abundantly expressed in the retinal pigment epithelium where it catalyzed the formation of 11-cis-retinol from all-trans-retinyl esters.
Retinylidene proteins, or rhodopsins in a broad sense, are proteins that use retinal as a chromophore for light reception. They are the molecular basis for a variety of light-sensing systems from phototaxis in flagellates to eyesight in animals. Retinylidene proteins include all forms of opsin and rhodopsin. While rhodopsin in the narrow sense refers to a dim-light visual pigment found in vertebrates, usually on rod cells, rhodopsin in the broad sense refers to any molecule consisting of an opsin and a retinal chromophore in the ground state. When activated by light, the chromophore is isomerized, at which point the molecule as a whole is no longer rhodopsin, but a related molecule such as metarhodopsin. However, it remains a retinylidene protein. The chromophore then separates from the opsin, at which point the bare opsin is a retinylidene protein. Thus, the molecule remains a retinylidene protein throughout the phototransduction cycle.
The visual cycle is a process in the retina that replenishes the molecule retinal for its use in vision. Retinal is the chromophore of most visual opsins, meaning it captures the photons to begin the phototransduction cascade. When the photon is absorbed, the 11-cis retinal photoisomerizes into all-trans retinal as it is ejected from the opsin protein. Each molecule of retinal must travel from the photoreceptor cell to the RPE and back in order to be refreshed and combined with another opsin. This closed enzymatic pathway of 11-cis retinal is sometimes called Wald's visual cycle after George Wald (1906–1997), who received the Nobel Prize in 1967 for his work towards its discovery.
In enzymology, a retinol dehydrogenase (RDH) (EC 1.1.1.105) is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
Peropsin, a visual pigment-like receptor, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the RRH gene. It belongs like other animal opsins to the G protein-coupled receptors. Even so, the first peropsins were already discovered in mice and humans in 1997, not much is known about them.
RPE-retinal G protein-coupled receptor also known as RGR-opsin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the RGR gene. RGR-opsin is a member of the rhodopsin-like receptor subfamily of GPCR. Like other opsins which bind retinaldehyde, it contains a conserved lysine residue in the seventh transmembrane domain. RGR-opsin comes in different isoforms produced by alternative splicing.
Retinal pigment epithelium-specific 65 kDa protein is a retinoid isomerohydrolase enzyme of the vertebrate visual cycle. RPE65 is expressed in the retinal pigment epithelium and is responsible for the conversion of all-trans-retinyl esters to 11-cis-retinol during phototransduction. 11-cis-retinol is then used in visual pigment regeneration in photoreceptor cells. RPE65 belongs to the carotenoid oxygenase family of enzymes.
CYP27C1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CYP27C1 gene. The Enzyme Commission number (EC) for this protein is EC 1.14.19.53. The full accepted name is all-trans-retinol 3,4-desaturase and the EC number 1 classifies CYP27C1 as a oxidoreductase that acts on paired donor by reducing oxygen. It is also identifiable by the UniProt code Q4G0S4.
Emixustat is a small molecule notable for its establishment of a new class of compounds known as visual cycle modulators (VCMs). Formulated as the hydrochloride salt, emixustat hydrochloride, it is the first synthetic medicinal compound shown to affect retinal disease processes when taken by mouth. Emixustat was invented by the British-American chemist, Ian L. Scott, and is currently in Phase 3 trials for dry, age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Vertebrate visual opsins are a subclass of ciliary opsins and mediate vision in vertebrates. They include the opsins in human rod and cone cells. They are often abbreviated to opsin, as they were the first opsins discovered and are still the most widely studied opsins.