In order to find optimal light conditions for photosynthetic growth, the green alga Chlamydomonas uses a visual system. An optical device, a rhodopsin photoreceptor and an electrical signal transduction chain that mediates between photoreceptor and flagella comprise this system. Here we present an improved strategy for the preparation of eyespot membranes. These membranes contain a retinal binding protein, which has been proposed to be the apoprotein of the phototaxis receptor. The retinal binding protein, which we named chlamyopsin, was purified and opsin‐specific antibodies were raised. Using these antibodies, the opsin was localized in the eyespot region of whole cells during growth and cell division. The opsin cDNA was purified and sequenced. The sequence reveals that chlamyopsin is not a typical seven helix receptor. It shows some homology to invertebrate opsins but not to opsins from halobacteria. It contains many polar and charged residues and might function as a light‐gated ion channel complex. It is likely that this lower plant rhodopsin diverged from animal opsins early in opsin evolution.

Somatic cells of the multicellular alga Volvox carteri contain a visual rhodopsin that controls the organism's phototactic behavior via two independent photoreceptor currents. Here, we report the identification of an opsinlike gene, designated as volvoxopsin (vop). The encoded protein exhibits homologies to the opsin of the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (chlamyopsin) and to the entire animal opsin family, thus providing new perspectives on opsin evolution. Volvoxopsin accumulates within the eyes of somatic cells. However, the vop transcript is detectable only in the reproductive eyeless gonidia and embryos. vop mRNA levels increase 400-fold during embryogenesis, when embryos develop in darkness, whereas the vop transcript does not accumulate when embryos develop in the light. An antisense transformant, T3, was generated. This transformant produces 10 times less volvoxopsin than does the wild type. In T3, the vop transcript is virtually absent, whereas the antisense transcript is predominant and light regulated. It follows that vop expression is under light-dependent transcriptional control but that volvoxopsin itself is not the regulatory photoreceptor. Transformant T3 is phototactic, but its phototactic sensitivity is reduced 10-fold relative to the parental wild-type strain HK10. Thus, we offer definitive genetic evidence that a rhodopsin serves as the photoreceptor for phototaxis in a green alga.

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Somatic cells of the multicellular alga Volvox carteri contain a visual rhodopsin that controls the organism's phototactic behavior via two independent photoreceptor currents. Here, we report the identification of an opsinlike gene, designated as volvoxopsin ( vop ). The encoded protein exhibits homologies to the opsin of the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (chlamyopsin) and to the entire animal opsin family, thus providing new perspectives on opsin evolution. Volvoxopsin accumulates within the eyes of somatic cells. However, the vop transcript is detectable only in the reproductive eyeless gonidia and embryos. vop mRNA levels increase 400-fold during embryogenesis, when embryos develop in darkness, whereas the vop transcript does not accumulate when embryos develop in the light. An antisense transformant, T3, was generated. This transformant produces 10 times less volvoxopsin than does the wild type. In T3, the vop transcript is virtually absent, whereas the antisense transcript is predominant and light regulated. It follows that vop expression is under light-dependent transcriptional control but that volvoxopsin itself is not the regulatory photoreceptor. Transformant T3 is phototactic, but its phototactic sensitivity is reduced 10-fold relative to the parental wild-type strain HK10. Thus, we offer definitive genetic evidence that a rhodopsin serves as the photoreceptor for phototaxis in a green alga. INTRODUCTIONVolvox carteri is a simple spheroidal multicellular alga with many features that recommend it as a model for studying the process of cytodifferentiation (Kirk and Harper, 1986) and the development of photoreception in lower eukaryotes. Individuals of this species contain only two distinct cell types-16 large reproductive cells (gonidia) and 2000 to 4000 somatic cells that cannot divide. The somatic cells are arranged in a single layer at the surface of the transparent sphere, whereas the 16 gonidia are located below the surface, where they have no direct contact with the external medium (Kirk et al., 1991). All somatic cells are biflagellate and possess eyespots, which, together with the photoreceptor and the downstream signaling machinery, form the functional eye. The eyes are responsible for guiding the organism to places of optimal light conditions. The orientation of the individual somatic cells within the spheroid combined with the three-dimensional pattern in which their flagella beat cause the spheroid to rotate in a counterclockwise direction as it moves (Hoops, 1993). The two flagella of each cell beat synchronously and in an almost precisely parallel fashion, but they beat toward the posterior of the spheroid and slightly to the right, causing the spheroid to rotate to the left as it moves forward (Hoops, 1993(Hoops, , 1997. Anterior cells possess larger and more sensitive eyes than do posterior ones (Sakaguchi and Iwasa, 1979; Hoops, 1997).In V. carteri , the photophobic response involves a cessation of flagellar movement (on-off response) and not a switch to a different beati...

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