TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schlichting, Matthias
A1  - Rieger, Dirk
A1  - Cusumano, Paola
A1  - Grebler, Rudi
A1  - Costa, Rodolfo
A1  - Mazzotta, Gabriella M.
A1  - Helfrich-Förster, Charlotte
T1  - Cryptochrome interacts with actin and enhances eye-mediated light sensitivity of the circadian clock in Drosophila melanogaster
JF  - Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
N2  - Cryptochromes (CRYs) are a class of flavoproteins that sense blue light. In animals, CRYs are expressed in the eyes and in the clock neurons that control sleep/wake cycles and are implied in the generation and/or entrainment of circadian rhythmicity. Moreover, CRYs are sensing magnetic fields in insects as well as in humans. Here, we show that in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster CRY plays a light-independent role as “assembling” protein in the rhabdomeres of the compound eyes. CRY interacts with actin and appears to increase light sensitivity of the eyes by keeping the “signalplex” of the phototransduction cascade close to the membrane. By this way, CRY also enhances light-responses of the circadian clock.
KW  - Drosophila melanogaster
KW  - cryptochrome
KW  - F-actin
KW  - phototransduction
KW  - activity rhythms
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-177086
VL  - 11
IS  - 238
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Senthilan, Pingkalai R.
A1  - Helfrich-Förster, Charlotte
T1  - Rhodopsin 7-The unusual Rhodopsin in Drosophila
JF  - PeerJ
N2  - Rhodopsins are the major photopigments in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila express six well-characterized Rhodopsins (Rh1–Rh6) with distinct absorption maxima and expression pattern. In 2000, when the Drosophila genome was published, a novel Rhodopsin gene was discovered: Rhodopsin 7 (Rh7). Rh7 is highly conserved among the Drosophila genus and is also found in other arthropods. Phylogenetic trees based on protein sequences suggest that the seven Drosophila Rhodopsins cluster in three different groups. While Rh1, Rh2 and Rh6 form a “vertebrate-melanopsin-type”–cluster, and Rh3, Rh4 and Rh5 form an “insect-type”-Rhodopsin cluster, Rh7 seem to form its own cluster. Although Rh7 has nearly all important features of a functional Rhodopsin, it differs from other Rhodopsins in its genomic and structural properties, suggesting it might have an overall different role than other known Rhodopsins.
KW  - vision
KW  - Drosophila
KW  - Opsins
KW  - Rhodopsins
KW  - phototransduction
Y1  - 2016
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-177998
VL  - 4
ER  -