PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
ED  - , 
TI  - Not So Different After All
AID  - 10.1126/stke.2692005tw47
DP  - 2005 Feb 01
TA  - Science's STKE
PG  - tw47--tw47
VI  - 2005
IP  - 269
4099  - http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/2005/269/tw47.short
4100  - http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/2005/269/tw47.full
SO  - Sci. STKE2005 Feb 01; 2005
AB  - 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]