Light-induced voltage noise in the photoreceptor of Drosophila melanogaster

The Drosophila photoreceptor potential is thought to be composed of discrete unit potentials called bumps. The steady-state receptor potential and the accompanying voltage fluctuations were recorded intracellularly under steady illumination. The occurrence rate, effective amplitude, and duration of the bumps were deduced by assuming a shot noise model. Over a wide range of light intensity, the duration of bumps remained essentially constant (25-30 ms). Below the saturation intensity for the receptor potential, the bump rate was roughly proportional to the intensity, and the adjustment of bumps to smaller size at higher intensity was mainly responsible for the nonlinear behavior of the receptor potential. The reduction in size of bumps at increasing light intensity was found to be due mainly to the diminishing magnitude of the bump current, and not to some other secondary effects. The bump rate saturated at about 3 x 105-106 events/s.