Function of Rhodopsin in Temperature Discrimination in Drosophila
Wei L. Shen, Young Kwon1, Abidemi A. Adegbola, Junjie Luo1, Andrew Chess, and Craig Montell
Science 11 March 2011: Vol. 331 no. 6022 pp. 1333-1336 doi: 10.1126/science.1198904
Many animals, including the fruit fly, are sensitive to small differences in ambient temperature. The ability of Drosophila larvae to choose their ideal temperature (18°C) over other comfortable temperatures (19° to 24°C) depends on a thermosensory signaling pathway that includes a heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide–binding protein (G protein), a phospholipase C, and the transient receptor potential TRPA1 channel. We report that mutation of the gene (ninaE) encoding a classical G protein–coupled receptor (GPCR), Drosophila rhodopsin, eliminates thermotactic discrimination in the comfortable temperature range. This role for rhodopsin in thermotaxis toward 18°C was light-independent. Introduction of mouse melanopsin restored normal thermotactic behavior in ninaE mutant larvae. We propose that rhodopsins represent a class of evolutionarily conserved GPCRs that are required for initiating thermosensory signaling cascades.
