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Our current understanding of insect phototransduction is based on a small number of species, but insects occupy many different visual environments. We created the retinal transcriptome of a nocturnal insect, the cockroach, Periplaneta americana to identify proteins involved in the earliest stages of compound eye phototransduction, and test the hypothesis that different visual environments are reflected in different molecular contributions to function. We assembled five novel mRNAs: two green opsins, one UV opsin, and one each TRP and TRPL ion channel homologs. One green opsin mRNA (pGO1) was 100–1000 times more abundant than the other opsins (pGO2 and pUVO), while pTRPL mRNA was 10 times more abundant than pTRP, estimated by transcriptome analysis or quantitative PCR (qPCR). Electroretinograms were used to record photoreceptor responses. Gene-specific in vivo RNA interference (RNAi) was achieved by injecting long (596–708 bp) double-stranded RNA into head hemolymph, and verified by qPCR. RNAi of the most abundant green opsin reduced both green opsins by more than 97% without affecting UV opsin, and gave a maximal reduction of 75% in ERG amplitude 7 days after injection that persisted for at least 19 days. RNAi of pTRP and pTRPL genes each specifically reduced the corresponding mRNA by 90%. Electroretinogram (ERG) reduction by pTRPL RNAi was slower than for opsin, reaching 75% attenuation by 21 days, without recovery at 29 days. pTRP RNAi attenuated ERG much less; only 30% after 21 days. Combined pTRP plus pTRPL RNAi gave only weak evidence of any cooperative interactions. We conclude that silencing retinal genes by in vivo RNAi using long dsRNA is effective, that visible light transduction in Periplaneta is dominated by pGO1, and that pTRPL plays a major role in cockroach phototransduction.

Most sensory systems encode external signals into action potentials for transmission to the central nervous system, but little is known about the cost or efficiency of this encoding. We measured the information capacity at three stages of encoding in the neurons of a spider slit-sense mechanoreceptor organ. For the receptor current under voltage clamp, the capacity was approximately 1400 bits/s, but when the neuron was allowed to generate a receptor potential, nonlinear membrane processes improved the capacity to >2000 bits/s. Finally, when action potentials were produced, the capacity dropped to approximately 200 bits/s, or approximately 14% of the receptor current capacity. These measurements provide a quantitative estimation of the cost of encoding analog signals into action potentials.

The lyriform slit-sense organ on the patella of the spider, Cupiennius salei, consists of seven or eight slits, with each slit innervated by a pair of mechanically sensitive neurons. Mechanotransduction is believed to occur at the tips of the dendrites, which are surrounded by a Na+-rich receptor lymph. We studied the ionic basis of sensory transduction in these neurons by voltage-clamp measurement of the receptor current, replacement of extracellular cations, and application of specific blocking agents. The relationship between mechanically activated current and membrane potential could be approximated by the Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz current equation, with an asymptotic inward conductance of approximately 4.6 nS, indicating that 50-230 channels of 20-80 pS each would suffice to produce the receptor current. Amiloride and gadolinium, which are known to block mechanically activated ion channels, also blocked the receptor current. Ionic replacement showed that the channels are not permeable to choline or Rb+, but are partly permeable to Li+. The receptor current was inward at all membrane potentials (-200 to +200 mV) and never reversed, indicating high selectivity for Na+ over K+. This situation contrasts strongly with insect mechanoreceptors, vertebrate hair cells, and mechanically activated ion channels in nonsensory cells, most of which are either unselective for monovalent cations or selective for K+.

The early stages of visual systems contain a variety of components that limit both the spatial resolution and the temporal resolution of vision. When an animal sees a moving object, or moves relative to its environment, both spatial and temporal factors contribute to its ability to resolve the movement. In the present work we have combined currently available knowledge about the early stages of fly vision (optical system, photoreceptors, and large monopolar cells) to predict the resolution of the first two cell layers to moving point objects. These calculations included recent measurements of nonlinear light responses. Because background light level has a strong effect on the temporal behavior of these early visual layers, we examined the effects of light level on motion resolution. We also studied the effect of position within the eye, which is known to affect the static resolution of vision. Our results indicate that responses in large monopolar cells to moving point objects are maximal at angular velocities of 100-200 degrees/s. The resolution of point objects by both these early stages of the visual system is similar from stationary to an angular velocity of approximately 200 degrees/s. Above this, resolution deteriorates approximately linearly with velocity.

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