2018年11月13日 13:00-15:00

清华大学生物新馆143

报告人

Dr. Martin Göpfert

University of Göttingen, Germany

主持人

Dr. Wei Zhang

题目

Drosophila mechanotransduction – channels & opsins

摘要

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster presents a multitude of mechanosensory cells and organs, including multidendritic neurons, external sense organs such as tactile bristles, and internal stretch receptors named chordotonal organs. I will focus on the latter chordotonal organs and, in particular, on their transduction mechanisms. Transduction by chordotonal organs involves several transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels, and I will discuss the distinct contributions of these channels to mechanosensation. Rather surprisingly, chordotonal organ function turned out to involve visual opsins, and I will present new data suggesting that opsins contribute to mechanosensory dendrite organization. According to this data, light-independent structural roles of opins might have predated their use for light detection, and it seems that opsins are used much more broadly than initially thought, with their use being rooted deeply sensory cell type evolution. Intriguingly, opsins function in chordotonal organs without binding of the chromophore, documenting that unconjugated opsin apoproteins alone have biological function. Notwithstanding this chromophore-independence, various proteins implicated in chromophore processing occur in mechanosensory cells, supporting the deep genetic link between vision and mechanosensation.

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