Université de Fribourg

Feedback from rhodopsin controls rhodopsin exclusion in Drosophila photoreceptors

Vasiliauskas, Daniel ; Mazzoni, Esteban O. ; Sprecher, Simon G. ; Brodetskiy, Konstantin ; Johnston, Robert J. ; Lidder, Preetmoninder ; Vogt, Nina ; Celik, Arzu ; Desplan, Claude

In: Nature, 2011, vol. 479, no. 7371, p. 108–112

Sensory systems with high discriminatory power use neurons that express only one of several alternative sensory receptor proteins. This exclusive receptor gene expression restricts the sensitivity spectrum of neurons and is coordinated with the choice of their synaptic targets. However, little is known about how it is maintained throughout the life of a neuron. Here we show that the green-light...

Université de Fribourg

Distinct visual pathways mediate drosophila larval light avoidance and circadian clock entrainment

Keene, Alex C. ; Mazzoni, Esteban O. ; Zhen, Jamie ; Younger, Meg A. ; Yamaguchi, Satoko ; Blau, Justin ; Desplan, Claude ; Sprecher, Simon G.

In: The Journal of Neuroscience, 2011, vol. 31, no. 17, p. 6527-6534

Visual organs perceive environmental stimuli required for rapid initiation of behaviors and can also entrain the circadian clock. The larval eye of Drosophila is capable of both functions. Each eye contains only 12 photoreceptors (PRs), which can be subdivided into two subtypes. Four PRs express blue-sensitive rhodopsin5 (rh5) and eight express green-sensitive rhodopsin6 (rh6). We found that...