A common mechanism underlies vertebrate calcium signaling and Drosophila phototransduction.
Drosophila phototransduction is an important model system for studies of inositol lipid signaling. Light excitation in Drosophila photoreceptors depends on phospholipase C, because null mutants of this enzyme do not respond to light. Surprisingly, genetic elimination of the apparently single inositol trisphosphate receptor (InsP(3)R) of Drosophila has no effect on phototransduction. This led to the proposal that Drosophila photoreceptors do not use the InsP(3) branch of phospholipase C (PLC)-mediated signaling for phototransduction, unlike most other inositol lipid-signaling systems. To examine this hypothesis we applied the membrane-permeant InsP(3)R antagonist 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB), which has proved to be an important probe for assessing InsP(3)R involvement in various signaling systems. We first examined the effects of 2-APB on Xenopus oocytes. We found that 2-APB is efficient at reversibly blocking the robust InsP(3)-mediated Ca(2+) release and store-operated Ca(2+) entry in Xenopus oocytes at a stage operating after production of InsP(3) but before the opening of the surface membrane Cl(-) channels by Ca(2+). We next demonstrated that 2-APB is effective at reversibly blocking the response to light of Drosophila photoreceptors in a light-dependent manner at a concentration range similar to that effective in Xenopus oocytes and other cells. We show furthermore that 2-APB does not directly block the light-sensitive channels, indicating that it operates upstream in the activation of these channels. The results indicate an important link in the coupling mechanism of vertebrate store-operated channels and Drosophila TRP channels, which involves the InsP(3) branch of the inositol lipid-signaling pathway.
Chorna-Ornan
I
I
Departments of Physiology and Biological Chemistry, and the Kühne Minerva Center for Studies of Visual Transduction, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.
Joel-Almagor
T
T
Ben-Ami
H C
HC
Frechter
S
S
Gillo
B
B
Selinger
Z
Z
Gill
D L
DL
Minke
B
B
D000818:Animals; D001896:Boron Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018118:Chloride Channels / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004330:Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004596:Electroretinography / Q000187:drug effects; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D015544:Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D053496:Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Receptors; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008027:Light; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D017956:Photoreceptor Cells, Invertebrate / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D050051:Transient Receptor Potential Channels; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D014981:Xenopus
D001896:Boron Compounds; D015220:Calcium Channels; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins; D018118:Chloride Channels; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D053496:Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Receptors; D019476:Insect Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; D050051:Transient Receptor Potential Channels; C063169:trp protein, Drosophila; C074192:trpl protein, Drosophila; D015544:Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate; C109986:2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate; D002118:Calcium