Figure 8

The ON bipolar light sensitivities monotonically increase with the RGS-G\(\beta _5\) protein levels. The scotopic and photopic ERG sensitivities are plotted against the RGS-G\(\beta _5\) protein levels in the dendritic tips of rod-OBC (rOBC) and cone-OBC (cOBC) on the left and the right, respectively. The data points for the wild type (WT) and the conditional Ate1 knockout (Ate1-/-) mice are from the current study, for which the levels of RGS-G\(\beta _5\) are represented by the immunostaining levels of G\(\beta _5\), the obligatory heterodimer binding partner of both RGS7 and RGS11. The data points for the RGS11 knockout (Rgs11-/-) and the tamoxifen-induced, conditional Rgs7 knockout of Rgs11-/- background (cDKO:cre+) mice are derived from⁶², for which the levels of RGS-G\(\beta _5\) protein are represented by the immunostaining levels of RGS7 (no RGS11). The cDKO:cre+ data point is from mice with 12 days of tamoxifen administration (RGS7 level was significantly reduced but not completely eliminated yet). All the values are normalized to the corresponding ones of WT. The cDKO:cre+ values (at day 12) are first normalized by the corresponding ones at day 0, and then normalized with the Rgs11-/- together by the WT values from⁶². The normalized level of RGS protein in Rgs11-/- is estimated to be 35/43. This is derived from 20 RGS7 and 23 RGS11 (fmol/10mg) in WT, and 35 RGS7 (fmol/10mg) in Rgs11-/-⁶². The ratio of 35 to 20 RGS7 in Rgs11-/- versus WT is also consistent with³⁰.