Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Zebrafish melanopsin: isolation, tissue localisation and phylogenetic position.

James Bellingham1, David Whitmore, Alisdair R Philp

  • 1Department of Integrative and Molecular Neuroscience, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK. j.bellingham@ic.ac.uk

Brain Research. Molecular Brain Research
|December 19, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Researchers identified zebrafish melanopsin, a novel photopigment, in retinal horizontal cells. This discovery challenges its role as a direct photosensory pigment, suggesting a unique evolutionary path in vertebrate vision.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

A systematic review of epidemiological studies into daylight-saving time & health identifying beneficial & adverse effects.

European journal of epidemiology·2026
Same author

Simulated natural daylight and twilight modulate activity and light sampling behaviour in mice.

BMC biology·2026
Same author

An Abrupt Mid-1970s Shift in UK Birth Seasonality and Its Implications for Chronobiological Studies.

Journal of biological rhythms·2025
Same author

Abnormal Splicing in the Final Intron of PRX Results in Dominant Congenital Cataract Without Neurological Phenotype.

Investigative ophthalmology & visual science·2025
Same author

Spatiotemporal analysis of dystrophin expression during muscle repair.

Skeletal muscle·2025
Same author

Photoperiodic and intrinsic circadian regulation of heart rate in <i>Daphnia pulex</i>.

Biology letters·2025

Area of Science:

  • * Comparative genomics and molecular biology
  • * Vertebrate vision and photoreception
  • * Evolution of photopigments

Background:

  • * Photoreception is traditionally associated with retinal rods and cones, but also occurs in other cells like intrinsically photosensitive cells in non-mammals.
  • * Melanopsin is hypothesized to mediate non-rod, non-cone light responses, but its gene family, function, and distribution require further clarification.
  • * Novel light-sensitive cells have recently been found in the inner/basal retina of teleosts and rodents.

Purpose of the Study:

  • * To isolate and characterize the first teleost fish orthologue of melanopsin.
  • * To investigate the expression pattern of zebrafish melanopsin in retinal cells.
  • * To compare the structural and evolutionary characteristics of zebrafish melanopsin with known vertebrate photopigment opsins.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Methods:

  • * Isolation of a teleost fish melanopsin orthologue.
  • * Gene expression analysis in retinal horizontal cells (type B).
  • * Bioinformatic analysis comparing amino acid identity and structural features with other opsins.

Main Results:

  • * Zebrafish melanopsin was identified and found to be expressed in a subset of retinal horizontal cells (type B).
  • * Zebrafish melanopsin exhibits significant structural differences from vertebrate photopigment opsins, including a tyrosine instead of glutamate as the putative counterion and a non-conserved G-protein binding domain.
  • * Low amino acid identity (approx. 27%) was observed between zebrafish melanopsin and known photopigment opsins, and lower identity (58-68%) compared to other melanopsins, contrasting with higher conservation (approx. 75%) in photosensory opsin families.

Conclusions:

  • * Melanopsins, based on their distinct structure, evolutionary lineage, and expression patterns, may not function as direct photosensory opsins.
  • * They could represent a separate evolutionary branch of photopigment evolution in vertebrates.
  • * An alternative function, such as a photoisomerase involved in non-rod, non-cone light detection, is proposed for melanopsins.