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Updated: Jul 20, 2026

Determination of Photoreceptor Cell Spectral Sensitivity in an Insect Model from In Vivo Intracellular Recordings
Published on: February 26, 2016
Ciliary photoreceptors with a vertebrate-type opsin in an invertebrate brain
Detlev Arendt1, Kristin Tessmar-Raible, Heidi Snyman
1Developmental Biology Department, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69012 Heidelberg, Germany. detlev.arendt@embl.de
Abstract:
For vision, insect and vertebrate eyes use rhabdomeric and ciliary photoreceptor cells, respectively. These cells show distinct architecture and transduce the light signal by different phototransductory cascades. In the marine rag-worm Platynereis, we find both cell types: rhabdomeric photoreceptor cells in the eyes and ciliary photoreceptor cells in the brain. The latter use a photopigment closely related to vertebrate rod and cone opsins. Comparative analysis indicates that both types of photoreceptors, with distinct opsins, coexisted in Urbilateria, the last common ancestor of insects and vertebrates, and sheds new light on vertebrate eye evolution.
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