YINGBIN FU
Yingbin Fu
email: yingbin.fu@hsc.utah.edu		 Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Science

The Fu Lab
Molecular Neuroscience

B.S. 1991, Peking University; Ph.D. 1998, Michigan State University.

RESEARCH:

Phototransduction in rods, cones and the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells

Dr. Fu is using a dual model system (mouse and Xenopu tropicalis) study both image-forming and non-image-forming visual functions. Vertebrates rely on retinal rod and especially cone photoreceptors for vision. We primarily depend on our cones for functional vision such as reading and driving. Despite the importance of cones, relatively little is known about the cone phototransduction compared with the rod pathway because most vertebrates are rod-dominant (including mice). In contrast, cones are abundant (~ 50%) and large in the retina of X. tropicalis. Unlike its slow growing, more widely used allotetraploid cousin X. laevis, X. tropicalis is diploid and has a short generation time of four months, greatly increasing the feasibility of genetic analysis. Developing X. tropicalis as a high-throughput genetic model for physiological screens is also greatly aided by the X. tropicalis EST project and the recently completed X. tropicalis genome project. In fact, Dr. Fu is building a core transgenic X. tropicalis facility at the Moran Eye Center for vision research.

The first objective of the Fu lab is to use Xenopus model to dissect systematically how the different phototransduction proteins contribute to the unique properties of cone physiology such as low sensitivity, fast response kinetics, and great light adaptation ability. The experimental methods include a combination of Xenopus genetics, electrophysiology, biochemistry, cell biology, and animal behavior.

The second objective is to establish animal models for cone dystrophies. Researchers (e.g. Dr. Kang Zhang's lab) at the Moran Eye Center have identified many mutations that cause blindness. With the transgenic Xenopus facility, we can quickly introduce those mutations into X. tropicalis to study the pathophysiological mechanisms of those diseases and to search for cures.

The third objective of the Fu Lab focuses on the phototransduction pathway of the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). In mammals, recent evidence indicates that non-image- forming vision is mediated not only by rods and cones, but also by the novel ipRGCs which may use an invertebrate-like signal transduction pathway. Dr. Fu will use mouse models to explore the underlying transduction mechanism.

Selected Publications

Fu, Y., Kefalov, V., Luo, D. G., Xie, T., Yau, K. W. (2008) Dark quantal noise from human red cone pigment. Nature Neuroscience, 11:565-571.

Fu, Y., and Yau, K.W. (2007) Phototransduction in mouse rods and cones. Pflugers Arch. - Eur J of Physiol., 454:805-819.

Imai, H., Kefalov, V., Sakurai, K., Chisaka, O., Ueda, Y., Onishi, A., Morizumi, T., Fu, Y., Ichikawa, K., Nakatani, K., et al. (2007) Molecular properties of rhodopsin and rod function. J Biol Chem., 282:6677-6684.

Fu, Y., Zhong, H., Wang, M.H., Luo, D.G., Liao, H.W., Maeda, H., Hattar, S., Frishman, L.J., and Yau, K.W. (2005) Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells detect light with a vitamin A-based photopigment, melanopsin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 102(29):10339-10244.

Fu, Y., Liao, H.W., Do, M.T., and Yau, K.W. (2005) Non-image-forming ocular photoreception in vertebrates. Curr Opin Neurobiol., 15(4):415-422.

Kefalov, V.*, Fu, Y.*, Marsh-Armstrong, N., and Yau, K.W. (2003) Role of visual pigment properties in rod and cone phototransduction. Nature, 425:526-531. *Equal contribution co-first authors.

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