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      Unconventional roles of opsins

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          Abstract

          Rhodopsin is the classical light sensor. While rhodopsin is important for image formation in the eye, the requirements for opsins in non-image formation and in extra-ocular light sensation were revealed later. Most recent is the demonstration that an opsin in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is expressed in pacemaker neurons in the brain and functions in circadian photoentrainment. After more than a century of analysis, the dogma has been that opsins are exclusive light sensors. Remarkably, through studies in Drosophila, light-independent roles for opsins in multiple senses are emerging. These include roles in temperature sensation and hearing. While these findings are uncovered in the fruit fly, there are hints that opsins have light-independent roles in a wide array of animals, including mammals. Thus, despite the decades of focus on opsins as light detectors, they represent an important new class of polymodal sensory receptors.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          9600627
          20331
          Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol
          Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol.
          Annual review of cell and developmental biology
          1081-0706
          1530-8995
          20 April 2018
          09 June 2017
          06 October 2017
          06 October 2018
          : 33
          : 241-264
          Affiliations
          Neuroscience Research Institute and Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
          Author notes
          Correspondence: cmontell@ 123456lifesci.ucsb.edu , phone, (805) 893-3634
          Article
          PMC5963513 PMC5963513 5963513 nihpa960902
          10.1146/annurev-cellbio-100616-060432
          5963513
          28598695
          424cc96a-bba8-49d3-9d09-c7d74913d80f
          History
          Categories
          Article

          rhodopsin,taste,hearing,circadian rhythm,thermosensation
          rhodopsin, taste, hearing, circadian rhythm, thermosensation

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