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Homologs of vertebrate Opn3 potentially serve as a light sensor in nonphotoreceptive tissue.

ABSTRACT: Most opsins selectively bind 11-cis retinal as a chromophore to form a photosensitive pigment, which underlies various physiological functions, such as vision and circadian photoentrainment. Recently, opsin 3 (Opn3), originally called encephalopsin or panopsin, and its homologs were identified in various tissues including brain, eye, and liver in both vertebrates and invertebrates, including human. Because Opn3s are mainly expressed in tissues that are not considered to contain sufficient amounts of 11-cis retinal to form pigments, the photopigment formation ability of Opn3 has been of interest. Here, we report the successful expression of Opn3 homologs, pufferfish teleost multiple tissue opsin (PufTMT) and mosquito Opn3 (MosOpn3) and show that these proteins formed functional photopigments with 11-cis and 9-cis retinals. The PufTMT- and MosOpn3-based pigments have absorption maxima in the blue-to-green region and exhibit a bistable nature. These Opn3 homolog-based pigments activate Gi-type and Go-type G proteins light dependently, indicating that they potentially serve as light-sensitive Gi/Go-coupled receptors. We also demonstrated that mammalian cultured cells transfected with the MosOpn3 or PufTMT became light sensitive without the addition of 11-cis retinal and the photosensitivity retained after the continuous light exposure, showing a reusable pigment formation with retinal endogenously contained in culture medium. Interestingly, we found that the MosOpn3 also acts as a light sensor when constituted with 13-cis retinal, a ubiquitously present retinal isomer. Our findings suggest that homologs of vertebrate Opn3 might function as photoreceptors in various tissues; furthermore, these Opn3s, particularly the mosquito homolog, could provide a promising optogenetic tool for regulating cAMP-related G protein-coupled receptor signalings.

SUBMITTER: Koyanagi M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3612648 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Homologs of vertebrate Opn3 potentially serve as a light sensor in nonphotoreceptive tissue.

Koyanagi Mitsumasa M Takada Eiichiro E Nagata Takashi T Tsukamoto Hisao H Terakita Akihisa A

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20130311 13

Most opsins selectively bind 11-cis retinal as a chromophore to form a photosensitive pigment, which underlies various physiological functions, such as vision and circadian photoentrainment. Recently, opsin 3 (Opn3), originally called encephalopsin or panopsin, and its homologs were identified in various tissues including brain, eye, and liver in both vertebrates and invertebrates, including human. Because Opn3s are mainly expressed in tissues that are not considered to contain sufficient amount ...[more]

PMID: 23479626

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Project description:Most animals possess multiple opsins which sense light for visual and non-visual functions. Here, we show spectral characteristics of non-visual opsins, vertebrate Opn3s, which are widely distributed among vertebrates. We successfully expressed zebrafish Opn3 in mammalian cultured cells and measured its absorption spectrum spectroscopically. When incubated with 11-cis retinal, zebrafish Opn3 formed a blue-sensitive photopigment with an absorption maximum around 465 nm. The Opn3 converts to an all-trans retinal-bearing photoproduct with an absorption spectrum similar to the dark state following brief blue-light irradiation. The photoproduct experienced a remarkable blue-shift, with changes in position of the isosbestic point, during further irradiation. We then used a cAMP-dependent luciferase reporter assay to investigate light-dependent cAMP responses in cultured cells expressing zebrafish, pufferfish, anole and chicken Opn3. The wild type opsins did not produce responses, but cells expressing chimera mutants (WT Opn3s in which the third intracellular loops were replaced with the third intracellular loop of a Gs-coupled jellyfish opsin) displayed light-dependent changes in cAMP. The results suggest that Opn3 is capable of activating G protein(s) in a light-dependent manner. Finally, we used this assay to measure the relative wavelength-dependent response of cells expressing Opn3 chimeras to multiple quantally-matched stimuli. The inferred spectral sensitivity curve of zebrafish Opn3 accurately matched the measured absorption spectrum. We were unable to estimate the spectral sensitivity curve of mouse or anole Opn3, but, like zebrafish Opn3, the chicken and pufferfish Opn3-JiL3 chimeras also formed blue-sensitive pigments. These findings suggest that vertebrate Opn3s may form blue-sensitive G protein-coupled pigments. Further, we suggest that the method described here, combining a cAMP-dependent luciferase reporter assay with chimeric opsins possessing the third intracellular loop of jellyfish opsin, is a versatile approach for estimating absorption spectra of opsins with unknown signaling cascades or for which absorption spectra are difficult to obtain.

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Homologs of vertebrate Opn3 potentially serve as a light sensor in nonphotoreceptive tissue.

Publications

Homologs of vertebrate Opn3 potentially serve as a light sensor in nonphotoreceptive tissue.

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