A ciliary opsin in the brain of a marine annelid zooplankton is ultraviolet-sensitive, and the sensitivity is tuned by a single amino acid residue.

ABSTRACT: Ciliary opsins were classically thought to function only in vertebrates for vision, but they have also been identified recently in invertebrates for non-visual photoreception. Larvae of the annelid Platynereis dumerilii are used as a zooplankton model, and this zooplankton species possesses a "vertebrate-type" ciliary opsin (named c-opsin) in the brain. Platynereis c-opsin is suggested to relay light signals for melatonin production and circadian behaviors. Thus, the spectral and biochemical characteristics of this c-opsin would be directly related to non-visual photoreception in this zooplankton model. Here we demonstrate that the c-opsin can sense UV to activate intracellular signaling cascades and that it can directly bind exogenous all-trans-retinal. These results

SUBMITTER: Tsukamoto H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5546036 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature