cyanopsin

The term "cyanopsin" refers to a type of visual pigment found in some vertebrate cone cells that function in brighter light. These pigments are composed of a protein called opsin and a chromophore, which is a molecule that absorbs light. Specifically, cyanopsins are formed when the chromophore 3-dehydroretinal (retinal₂) binds with a photopsin protein.1

Visual pigments are crucial for light reception in animals, converting light energy into electrical signals that are then processed by the nervous system. In vertebrates, different types of photoreceptor cells, rods and cones, contain various visual pigments. Rods are responsible for vision in dim light and contain rhodopsins, while cones are responsible for color vision in brighter light and contain photopsins. Cyanopsins are a variant of these photopsin pigments, distinguished by their specific chromophore.1