novel G gamma isolated from Drosophila constitutes a visual G protein gamma subunit of the fly compound eye

Visual transduction in the compound eye of flies is a well established model system for the study of G protein- coupled transduction pathways. To characterize key components of the phototransduction cascade we performed substractive hybridization screening. We cloned the cDNA coding for the visual G...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of biological chemistry 1999-12, Vol.274 (53), p.37605-37610
Main Authors: Schulz, S, Huber, A, Schwab, K, Paulsen, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
amino acid sequences
binding
binding proteins
complementary DNA
compound eyes
dimerization
Drosophila
Drosophila melanogaster
exons
genbank/aj250440
genbank/aj250441
gene expression
genes
guanosine triphosphate
immunohistochemistry
introns
messenger RNA
molecular sequence data
nucleotide sequences
photoreceptors
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Summary:Visual transduction in the compound eye of flies is a well established model system for the study of G protein- coupled transduction pathways. To characterize key components of the phototransduction cascade we performed substractive hybridization screening. We cloned the cDNA coding for the visual G gamma (G gamma sub(e)) subunit from Drosophila which had so far eluded identification at the molecular level. Northern blot analysis revealed the presence of a major, 1.4-kilobase(kb) G gamma sub(e) transcript and two minor transcripts of 1.8 and 6 kb in size. The major 1.4-kb mRNA is expressed preferentially in the eye. The spatial expression pattern determined for G gamma sub(e) as well as co-immunoprecipitation experiments demonstrated that G gamma sub(e) dimerizes with G beta sub(e) to form the heterodimeric G beta gamma subunit which functions in visual transduction in the Drosophila compound eye. G gamma sub(e) shares common characteristics with the visual G gamma subunits of human rod and cone photoreceptors although different classes of G alpha subunits are employed in vertebrate and invertebrate phototransduction. By the molecular cloning and characterization of the visual gamma subunit of Drosophila one of the few missing links in the well studied Drosophila phototransduction cascade has been characterized to complete our knowledge about the Drosophila visual transduction pathway.
ISSN:0021-9258
1083-351X
DOI:10.1074/jbc.274.53.37605