opsin

[op-sin]

noun

Biochemistry.

1. any of several compounds that form the protein component of the light-sensitive retina pigment, rhodopsin.

opsin

/ ˈɒpsɪn /

noun

1. the protein that together with retinene makes up the purple visual pigment rhodopsin

Word History and Origins

Origin of opsin¹

First recorded in 1950–55; probably back formation from rhodopsin

Word History and Origins

Origin of opsin¹

C20: back formation from _rhodopsin

Example Sentences

First, they introduce a genetic modification that causes neurons to produce a light-sensitive protein called opsin, the same type of protein that photoreceptors in the eye use to detect light.

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In 2018, researchers found that hogfish skin expressed a gene for an opsin protein, which is the same kind of protein that senses color in the retinas of eyes.

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In a 2018 study, Schweikert's team found hogfish possess an opsin specifically sensitive to blue light in their skin, she said.

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Each of those has a photosensitive opsin, which is the molecule that changes shape when light is received, and which determines the cell’s sensitivity to wavelength.

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He received an injection in his worse eye of a harmless virus called an adeno-associated virus, which carried the gene for an opsin from algae.

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