Grebler, R., Kistenpfennig, C., Rieger, D., Bentrop, J., Schneuwly, S., Senthilan, P.R., Helfrich-Förster, C. (2017). Drosophila Rhodopsin 7 can partially replace the structural role of Rhodopsin 1, but not its physiological function.  J. Comp. Physiol. A, Neuroethol. Sens. Neural. Behav. Physiol. 203(8): 649--659.

FBrf0236272

Research paper

Rhodopsin 7 (Rh7), a new invertebrate Rhodopsin gene, was discovered in the genome of Drosophila melanogaster in 2000 and thought to encode for a functional Rhodopsin protein. Indeed, Rh7 exhibits most hallmarks of the known Rhodopsins, except for the G-protein-activating QAKK motif in the third cytoplasmic loop that is absent in Rh7. Here, we show that Rh7 can partially substitute Rh1 in the outer receptor cells (R1-6) for rhabdomere maintenance, but that it cannot activate the phototransduction cascade in these cells. This speaks against a role of Rh7 as photopigment in R1-6, but does not exclude that it works in the inner photoreceptor cells.

PMC5537319 (PMC) (EuropePMC)