Molecular and functional identification of a novel photopigment in Pecten ciliary photoreceptors.

ABSTRACT: The two basic animal photoreceptor types, ciliary and microvillar, use different light-transduction schemes: their photopigments couple to G_t versus G_q proteins, respectively, to either mobilize cyclic nucleotides or trigger a lipid signaling cascade. A third class of photoreceptors has been described in the dual retina of some marine invertebrates; these present a ciliary morphology but operate via radically divergent mechanisms, prompting the suggestion that they comprise a novel lineage of light sensors. In one of these organisms, an uncommon putative opsin was uncovered that was proposed to signal through G_o Orthologues subsequently emerged in diverse phyla, including mollusks, echinoderms, and chordates, but the cells in which they express have not bee

SUBMITTER: Arenas O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5839723 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature