Abstract
Abstract In photoreceptor cells of invertebrates light triggers an enzyme cascade in which the phos-phoinositide pathway is crucially involved. Likewise, there is growing evidence of an impor tant role of cyclic nucleotides, too. To localize these enzymes able to catalyze the formation of cGM P and cAMP, the spatial distribution of guanylate cyclase (EC 4.6.1.2) and adenylate cyclase (EC 4.6.1.1) was determined in photoreceptor cells of the fly. In photoreceptor cells of the blowfly (Calliphora erythrocephala), the electron dense reaction product of guanylate cyclase was found within the phototransducing region, the rhabdomeral microvilli and in the mitochondria. Staining was also observed throughout the cytoplasm of the microvilli. With the same cytochemical method, reaction product for adenylate cyclase was found on the tips of the photosensory membrane, and not in the cytoplasm of the rhabdomeral microvilli. The results presented here further argue for an important role of one or possibly two cyclic nucleotides in the photoreceptor cells, and possibly in the process of phototransduction of in vertebrates.
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