Detergent-resistant membrane microdomains in the plasma membrane, known as lipid rafts, have been implicated in various cellular processes. We report here that a low-density Triton X-100-insoluble membrane (detergent-resistant membrane; DRM) fraction is present in bovine rod photoreceptor outer segments (ROS). In dark-adapted ROS, transducin and most of cGMPphosphodiesterase (PDE) were detergent-soluble. When ROS membranes were exposed to light, however, a large portion of transducin localized in the DRM fraction. Furthermore, on addition of guanosine 5-3-O-(thio)triphosphate (GTP␥S) to light-bleached ROS, transducin became detergent-soluble again. PDE was not recruited to the DRM fraction after light stimulus alone, but simultaneous stimulation by light and GTP␥S induced a massive translocation of all PDE subunits to the DRM. A cholesterol-removing reagent, methyl--cyclodextrin, selectively but partially solubilized PDE from the DRM, suggesting that cholesterol contributes, at least in part, to the association of PDE with the DRM. By contrast, transducin was not extracted by the depletion of cholesterol. These data suggest that transducin and PDE are likely to perform their functions in phototransduction by changing their localization between two distinct lipid phases, rafts and surrounding fluid membrane, on disc membranes in an activation-dependent manner.The phototransduction system in the photoreceptor rod outer segments (ROS) 1 of vertebrates is a typical G protein-mediated signaling system. In the prevailing model of phototransduction (1), light-excited rhodopsin interacts with the GDP form of the heterotrimeric G protein transducin and stimulates GDP-GTP exchange on its ␣-subunit (T ␣ ). GTP-T ␣ separates from its counterpart, the ␥ subunit of transducin (T ␥ ), and binds the inhibitory subunit (P ␥ ) of cGMP-phosphodiesterase (PDE), thus releasing the constraint of P ␥ on the catalytic subunits (P ␣ and P  ) of PDE. The resulting decrease in cytoplasmic cGMP leads to the closure of cGMP-gated channels and the hyperpolarization of photoreceptor plasma membranes. Although the signaling cascade of ROS has been intensively studied during the past two decades, the whole mechanism has not yet been elucidated (for review see Ref.2).