Publication Date:
2011-03-12
Description:
Many animals, including the fruit fly, are sensitive to small differences in ambient temperature. The ability of Drosophila larvae to choose their ideal temperature (18 degrees C) over other comfortable temperatures (19 degrees to 24 degrees C) depends on a thermosensory signaling pathway that includes a heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein), a phospholipase C, and the transient receptor potential TRPA1 channel. We report that mutation of the gene (ninaE) encoding a classical G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), Drosophila rhodopsin, eliminates thermotactic discrimination in the comfortable temperature range. This role for rhodopsin in thermotaxis toward 18 degrees C was light-independent. Introduction of mouse melanopsin restored normal thermotactic behavior in ninaE mutant larvae. We propose that rhodopsins represent a class of evolutionarily conserved GPCRs that are required for initiating thermosensory signaling cascades.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Shen, Wei L -- Kwon, Young -- Adegbola, Abidemi A -- Luo, Junjie -- Chess, Andrew -- Montell, Craig -- GM085335/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2011 Mar 11;331(6022):1333-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1198904.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biological Chemistry, Center for Sensory Biology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21393546" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Drosophila Proteins/genetics/metabolism/*physiology
;
Drosophila melanogaster/genetics/*physiology
;
Eye Proteins/genetics/*physiology
;
Larva/genetics/physiology
;
Light
;
Mice
;
Movement
;
Mutation
;
Photoreceptor Cells, Invertebrate/physiology
;
Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled/genetics/physiology
;
Rhodopsin/genetics/*physiology
;
Rod Opsins/genetics/physiology
;
*Signal Transduction
;
TRPC Cation Channels/genetics/metabolism
;
Temperature
;
*Thermosensing
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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