Role of Des1 in mouse cone photoreceptor function

What is it about?

Our ability to discriminate colors and see in bright conditions is dependent on cone photoreceptor cells within a tissue in the back of the eye known as the retina. The special ability of cones to maintain their light sensitivity may to be due to a special metabolic pathway located within the retina that supplies these photoreceptors with a light-sensing molecule called 11-cis-retinaldehyde. However, the existence of this pathway is controversial. In this manuscript we evaluate the role a candidate enzyme of the pathway, called Des1, plays in the ability of cones to sense light. We find that loss of Des1 function in the retina modulates the electrical properties of the cone cells but does not have an adverse effect on the ability of cones to maintain their light sensitivity. This finding has important implications for future investigations of the factors that enable sustained cone photoreceptor light sensitivity.

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