[Carbohydrate composition of wall-eyed pollock rhodopsin].

Using gas-liquid and column chromatography, the carbohydrate composition of the visual protein rhodopsin from wall-eyed pollock purified by SDS-electrophoresis was studied. It was found that similar to bovine rhodopsin, the protein from wall-eyed pollock contains in its carbohydrate moiety only two types of monosaccharides, i. e. mannose and glucosamine (1,78 +/- 0,13 moles of mannose per one mole of glucosamine). One mole of rhodopsin contains 9,43 +/- 1,5 moles of mannose and 5,3 moles of glucosamine. The data obtained suggest a similarity of the carbohydrate component of wall-eyed pollock rhodopsin to that of the traditional object--bovine rhodopsin. Possible functions of the carbohydrate component of rhodopsin in the photoreceptor membrane are postulated.