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Sci. STKE, 1 February 2005
Vol. 2005, Issue 269, p. tw47
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.2692005tw47]

EDITORS' CHOICE

SENSORY PERCEPTION Not So Different After All

Melanopsin is an atypical opsin protein required in vertebrates to mediate nonvisual responses to light, including regulation of circadian behavior and pupil constriction. Panda et al. report that, when expressed in Xenopus oocytes, melanopsin activates heterotrimeric G protein signaling pathways characteristic of invertebrate opsins in response to light. Melanopsin could also activate mammalian TRPC channels, whose paralogs in Drosophila serve as phototransduction channels. Thus, an invertebrate signaling system appears to be preserved in the mammalian retina.

S. Panda, S. K. Nayak, B. Campo, J. R. Walker, J. B. Hogenesch, T. Jegla, Illumination of the melanopsin signaling pathway. Science 307, 600-604 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text]

Citation: Not So Different After All. Sci. STKE 2005, tw47 (2005).

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Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882)