PUBLICATION
Exo-rhodopsin: a novel rhodopsin expressed in the zebrafish pineal gland
- Authors
- Mano, H., Kojima, D., and Fukada, Y.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-991216-4
- Date
- 1999
- Source
- Mol. Brain Res. 73(1-2): 110-118 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Fukada, Yoshitaka, Kojima, Daisuke
- Keywords
- exo-rhodopsin; opsin; pineal gland; circadian rhythm; zebrafish (Danio rerio)
- MeSH Terms
-
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Animals
- Brain/metabolism
- Cloning, Molecular
- DNA, Complementary/chemistry
- DNA, Complementary/genetics
- Gene Expression
- Immunohistochemistry
- In Situ Hybridization
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Phylogeny
- Pineal Gland/chemistry
- Pineal Gland/metabolism*
- RNA, Messenger/genetics
- RNA, Messenger/metabolism
- Retina/metabolism
- Rhodopsin/analysis
- Rhodopsin/genetics*
- Rod Opsins/genetics
- Sequence Alignment
- Sequence Analysis, DNA
- Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
- Tissue Distribution
- Zebrafish/genetics*
- PubMed
- 10581404 Full text @ Mol. Brain Res.
Citation
Mano, H., Kojima, D., and Fukada, Y. (1999) Exo-rhodopsin: a novel rhodopsin expressed in the zebrafish pineal gland. Mol. Brain Res.. 73(1-2):110-118.
Abstract
The zebrafish, a useful animal model for genetic studies, has a photosensitive pineal gland, which has an endogenous circadian pacemaker entrained to environmental light-dark cycles [G.M. Cahill, Brain Res. 708 (1996) 177-181]. Although pinopsin has been found in the pineal glands of birds and reptiles, the molecular identity responsible for fish pineal photosensitivity remains unclear. This study reports identification of a novel opsin gene expressed in the zebrafish pineal gland. The deduced amino acid sequence is similar to, but not identical (74% identity) with that of canonical rhodopsin in the zebrafish retina. This novel rhodopsin is expressed in the majority of pineal cells but not in retinal cells, and hence named exo-rhodopsin after extra-ocular rhodopsin. This study first shows that two different rhodopsin genes are expressed in an individual animal each within a unique location. A phylogenetic analysis indicated that the exo-rhodopsin gene was produced by a duplication of the rhodopsin gene at an early stage in the ray-finned fish lineage. As expected, the exo-rhodopsin gene was found in the medakafish and European eel genomes, suggesting strongly that exo-rhodopsin is a pineal opsin common to teleosts. Identification of exo-rhodopsin in the zebrafish provides an opportunity for studying the role of pineal photoreceptive molecules by using genetic approaches.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping