title: Spectral tuning of rhodopsin and metarhodopsin in vivo.
abstract: Color vision is dependent upon the expression of spectrally distinct forms of rhodopsin in different photoreceptor cells. To identify the structural features of rhodopsin that regulate spectral sensitivity and absorption in vivo, we have constructed a series of chimeric Drosophila rhodopsin molecules, derived from a blue- and a violet-sensitive rhodopsin, and used P element-mediated germline transformation to generate transgenic flies that express the modified pigments in the R1-R6 photoreceptor cells of the compound eye. Our analysis of these animals indicates that multiple regions of the opsin protein are involved in regulating rhodopsin spectral sensitivity and that the native and photoactivated forms of rhodopsin can be tuned independently of each other. These results demonstrate the feasibility of designing receptor molecules with specifically modified activated states.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of California, San Diego 92093.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Britt
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Feiler
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kirschfeld
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Zuker
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D002678:Chimera; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004175:Diptera; D004330:Drosophila; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012243:Rhodopsin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D017299:Rod Opsins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D017299:Rod Opsins; C013110:metarhodopsins; D012243:Rhodopsin