Animals have evolved specialized photoreceptors in the retina and in extraocular tissues that allow them to measure light changes in their environment. In mammals, the retina is the only structure that detects light and relays this information to the brain. The classical photoreceptors, rods and cones, are responsible for vision through activation of rhodopsin and cone opsins. Melanopsin, another photopigment first discovered in Xenopus melanophores (Opn4x), is expressed in a small subset of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the mammalian retina, where it mediates non-image forming functions such as circadian photoentrainment and sleep. While mammals have a single melanopsin gene (opn4), zebrafish show remarkable diversity with two opn4x-related and three opn4-related genes expressed in distinct patterns in multiple neuronal cell types of the developing retina, including bipolar interneurons. The intronless opn4.1 gene is transcribed in photoreceptors as well as in horizontal cells and produces functional photopigment. Four genes are also expressed in the zebrafish embryonic brain, but not in the photoreceptive pineal gland. We discovered that photoperiod length influences expression of two of the opn4-related genes in retinal layers involved in signaling light information to RGCs. Moreover, both genes are expressed in a robust diurnal rhythm but with different phases in relation to the light-dark cycle. The results suggest that melanopsin has an expanded role in modulating the retinal circuitry of fish.
Summary Thirteen-lined ground squirrels and Syrian hamsters are known for their ability to withstand cold during hibernation. We found that hibernators exhibit cold tolerance even in the active state. Imaging and electrophysiology of squirrel somatosensory neurons reveal a decrease in cold sensitivity of TRPM8-expressing cells. Characterization of squirrel and hamster TRPM8 showed that the channels are chemically-activated, but exhibit poor activation by cold. Cold sensitivity can be re-introduced into squirrel and hamster TRPM8 by transferring the transmembrane domain from the cold sensitive rat orthologue. The same can be achieved in squirrel TRPM8 by mutating only six amino acids. Reciprocal mutations suppress cold sensitivity of the rat orthologue, supporting functional significance of these residues. Our results suggest that ground squirrels and hamsters exhibit reduced cold sensitivity partially due to modifications in the transmembrane domain of TRPM8. Our study reveals molecular adaptations that accompany cold tolerance in two species of mammalian hibernators.
Light-activated opsins undergo carboxy-terminal phosphorylation, which contributes to the deactivation of their photoresponse. The photopigment melanopsin possesses an unusually long carboxy tail containing 37 serine and threonine sites that are potential sites for phosphorylation by a G-protein dependent kinase (GRK). Here, we show that a small cluster of six to seven sites is sufficient for deactivation of light-activated mouse melanopsin. Surprisingly, these sites are distinct from those that regulate deactivation of rhodopsin. In zebrafish, there are five different melanopsin genes that encode proteins with distinct carboxy-terminal domains. Naturally occurring changes in the same cluster of phosphorylatable amino acids provides diversity in the deactivation kinetics of the zebrafish proteins. These results suggest that variation in phosphorylation sites provides flexibility in the duration and kinetics of melanopsin-mediated light responses.
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