PUBLICATION
Vertebrate ancient-long opsin: A green-sensitive photoreceptive molecule present in zebrafish deep brain and retinal horizontal cells
- Authors
- Kojima, D., Mano, H., and Fukada, Y.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-000504-4
- Date
- 2000
- Source
- The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 20(8): 2845-2851 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Fukada, Yoshitaka, Kojima, Daisuke
- Keywords
- VAL-opsin; VA-opsin; deep brain photoreceptor; horizontal cell; alternative splicing; zebrafish
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Brain Chemistry*
- Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate/chemistry*
- Protein Isoforms/metabolism
- Retinal Ganglion Cells/chemistry*
- Rod Opsins/metabolism*
- Zebrafish
- PubMed
- 10751436 Full text @ J. Neurosci.
Citation
Kojima, D., Mano, H., and Fukada, Y. (2000) Vertebrate ancient-long opsin: A green-sensitive photoreceptive molecule present in zebrafish deep brain and retinal horizontal cells. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 20(8):2845-2851.
Abstract
Nonretinal/nonpineal photosensitivity has been found in the brain of vertebrates, but the molecular basis for such a "deep brain" photoreception system remains unclear. We conducted an extensive search for brain opsin cDNAs of the zebrafish (Danio rerio), a useful animal model for genetic studies, and we have isolated a partial cDNA clone encoding an ortholog of vertebrate ancient (VA) opsin, the function of which is unknown. Subsequent characterization revealed the occurrence of two kinds of mRNAs encoding putative splicing variants, VA and VA-Long (VAL) opsin, the latter of which is a novel variant of the former. Both opsins shared a common core sequence in the membrane-spanning domains, but VAL-opsin had a C-terminal tail much longer than that of VA-opsin. Functional reconstitution experiments on the recombinant proteins showed that VAL-opsin with bound 11-cis-retinal is a green-sensitive pigment (lambdamax approximately 500 nm), whereas VA-opsin exhibited no photosensitivity even in the presence of 11-cis-retinal. Immunoreactivity specific to this functionally active VAL-opsin was localized at a limited number of cells surrounding the diencephalic ventricle of central thalamus, and these cells were distributed over approximately 200 μm along the rostrocaudal axis. Taken together with the previous study on the locus of the teleost brain photosensitivity (von Frisch K, 1911), it is strongly suggested that the VAL-positive cells in the zebrafish brain represent the deep brain photoreceptors. The VAL-specific immunoreactivity was also detected in a subset of non-GABAergic horizontal cells in the zebrafish retina. The existence of VAL-opsin, a new member of the rhodopsin superfamily, in these tissues may indicate its multiple roles in visual and nonvisual photosensory physiology.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping