Abstract
Drosophila melanogaster CRYPTOCHROME (CRY) mediates behavioral and electrophysiological responses to blue light coded by circadian and arousal neurons. However, spectroscopic and biochemical assays of heterologously expressed CRY suggest that CRY may mediate functional responses to UV-A (ultraviolet A) light as well. To determine the relative contributions of distinct phototransduction systems, we tested mutants lacking CRY and mutants with disrupted opsin-based phototransduction for behavioral and electrophysiological responses to UV light. CRY and opsin-based external photoreceptor systems cooperate for UV light-evoked acute responses. CRY mediates behavioral avoidance responses related to executive choice, consistent with its expression in central brain neurons.
Highlights
Drosophila melanogaster CRYPTOCHROME (CRY) mediates behavioral and electrophysiological responses to blue light coded by circadian and arousal neurons
We tested whether similar large LNvs (l-LNvs) electrophysiological response was observed in response to UV light
The l-LNv response to UV light is significantly attenuated in cry-null mutant flies and hknull mutant flies relative to control (Fig. 1 A and E)
Summary
Drosophila melanogaster CRYPTOCHROME (CRY) mediates behavioral and electrophysiological responses to blue light coded by circadian and arousal neurons. CRY and opsin-based external photoreceptor systems cooperate for UV light-evoked acute responses. It has been assumed that insect behavioral responses to UV light are exclusively mediated by UV-sensitive opsins expressed in eyes and other external photoreceptors. In Drosophila melanogaster, CRY mediates rapid membrane depolarization and increased spontaneous action potential firing rate in the lateral ventral neurons (LNvs), which are involved in arousal and circadian behavioral responses [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. CRY-expressing large LNvs (l-LNvs) mediate acute behavioral arousal responses to blue-light-containing spectra [4,5,6,7]. To test the in vivo functional significance of these findings, we measured behavioral and electrophysiological responses to UV light near the CRY UV peak
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