Summary
Ultraviolet light excites a red fluorescence fromDrosophila R1–6 rhabdomeres which is superimposed on a blue background emission. Metarhodopsin (M570) pigment generates some or all of the vitamin A dependent red emission. However, the excitation spectrum for red emission peaks in the UV. This suggests that the pigment which sensitizes R1–6's visual pigment to UV light (sensitizing pigment) absorbs the UV light, sensitizing metarhodopsin's fluorescence by energy transfer. Blue emission is neither from sensitizing pigment nor from visual pigment as shown by vitamin A deprivation studies.
Very intense UV or blue stimulation causes these changes: (1) conversion of visual pigment into a fluorescent product; (2) destruction of this fluorescent product; (3) a decrease in the blue background fluorescence (even in vitamin A deprived flies); and (4) a permanent destruction of visual pigment and retinal degeneration. The first effect requires intensities 3 log units brighter than needed to interconvert rhodopsin and metarhodopsin 1/2 way to photoequilibrium. UV light is about 5 times as effective as blue light for the conversion of visual pigment into fluorescent product.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cronin TW, Goldsmith TH (1981) Fluorescence of crayfish metarhodopsin studied in single rhabdoms. Biophys J 35:653–664
Cronin TW, Goldsmith TH (1982a) Photosensitivity spectrum of crayfish rhodopsin measured using fluorescence of metarhodopsin. J Gen Physiol 79:313–332
Cronin TW, Goldsmith TH (1982b) Quantum efficiency and photosensitivity of the rhodopsin ↔ metarhodopsin conversion in crayfish photoreceptors. Photochem Photobiol 36:447–454
Franceschini N (1975) Sampling of the visual environment by the compound eye of fly: Fundamentals and applications. In: Snyder AW, Menzel R (eds) Photoreceptor optics, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 98–125
Franceschini N (1977) In vivo fluorescence of the rhabdomeres in an insect eye. In: Proc Int Union Physiol Sci 13:237 (Abstract)
Franceschini N (1978) Bi-stable and photo-stable pigments in fly photoreceptor cells: Evidence from ‘ommatidial fundus fluoroscopy’. Neurosci Lett Suppl 1:5405 (Abstract)
Franceschini N, Stavenga D (1981) The ultraviolet sensitizing pigment of flies studied by in vivo microspectrofluorimetry. In: Invest Ophthalmol Visual Sci (ARVO 1981 Suppl) 20:111 (Abstract)
Franceschini N, Kirschfeld K, Minke B (1981) Fluorescence of photoreceptor cells observed in vivo. Science 213:1264–1267
Goldsmith TH, Fernandez H (1966) Some photochemical and physiological aspects of visual excitation in compound eyes. In: Bernhard CG (ed) The functional organization of the compound eye. Pergamon Press, Oxford New York, pp 125–143
Harris WA, Ready DF, Lipson ED, Hudspeth AJ, Stark WS (1977) Vitamin A deprivation andDrosophila photopigments. Nature 266:648–650
Johnson MA, Frayer KL, Stark WS (1982) Characteristics ofrdgA: Mutants with retinal degeneration inDrosophila. J Insect Physiol 28:233–242
Kirschfeld K, Franceschini N, Minke B (1977) Evidence for a sensitizing pigment in fly photoreceptors. Nature 269:386–390
Larrivee DC, Conrad SK, Stephenson RS, Pak WL (1981) Mutation that selectively affects rhodopsin concentration in the peripheral photoreceptors ofDrosophila melanogaster. J Gen Physiol 78:521–545
Lindsley DL, Grell EH (1968) Genetic variations ofDrosophila melanogaster. Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Merriam J, Jones R, Lee H, Singer L (1977) New plugs from old (a simple cure for mites). Dros Inf Serv 52:178–179
Miller GV (1982) Spectral analysis of fluorescent substances in the eyes of flies and man. MA thesis, University of Missouri-Columbia
Miller GV, Itoku KA, Fleischer AB, Stark WS (1982) Damaging effects of UV treatment in normal and vitamin A deprivedDrosophila eyes. In: Invest Ophthalmol Visual Sci (ARVO 1982 Suppl) 22:66 (Abstract)
Rabinowitch E, Govindjee (1969) Photosynthesis. John Wiley, New York
Razmjoo S, Hamdorf K (1976) Visual sensitivity and the variation of total photopigment content in the blowfly photoreceptor membrane. J Comp Physiol 105:179–286
Stark WS, Johnson MA (1980) Microspectrophotometry ofDrosophila visual pigments: Determinations of conversion efficiency in R1–6 receptors. J Comp Physiol 140:275–286
Stark WS, Ivanyshyn AM, Hu KG (1976) Spectral sensitivities and photopigments in adaptation of fly visual receptors. Naturwissenschaften 63:513–518
Stark WS, Ivanyshyn AM, Greenberg RM (1977) Sensitivity and photopigments of R1–6, a two-peaked photoreceptor, inDrosophila, Calliphora andMusca. J Comp Physiol 121:289–305
Stark WS, Frayer KL, Johnson MA (1979a) Photopigment and receptor properties inDrosophila compound eye and ocellar receptors. Biophys Struct Mech 5:197–209
Stark WS, Kruizinga B, Stavenga DG (1979b) Rhabdomere fluorescence and UV vision in fly R1–6 receptors. In: Invest Ophthalmol Visual Sci (ARVO 1979 Suppl) 18:177 (Abbstract)
Stark WS, Stavenga DG, Kruizinga B (1979c) Fly photoreceptor fluorescence is related to UV sensitivity. Nature 280:581–583
Stark WS, Sullivan G, Hansen K, Garfinkel F (1980) Microspectrophotometry of dark recovery and bleaching ofDrosophila photopigments. In: Abstracts of papers, Am Assoc Advanc Sci, pp 125–126 (Abstract)
Stark WS, Srivastava K, Carlson SD (1982) High voltage electron microscope study of retinal degeneration inDrosophila. In: Soc Neurosci Abstr 8:530 (Abstract)
Stark WS, Itoku KA, Srivastava K, Carlson SD (1983a) Retinal degeneration induced by intense UV and blue stimuli inDrosophila. Photochem Photobiol Suppl 37:84 (Abstract)
Stark WS, Miller GV, Itoku KA (1983b) Calibration of microspectrophotometers as it applies to the detection of lipofuscin and the blue and yellow emitting fluorophoresin situ. In: Paker L (ed) Methods in enzymology: Oxygen radicals in biological systems. Academic Press, New York, (in press)
Stavenga DG (1979) Pseudopupils of compound eyes. In: Autrum H (ed) Handbook of sensory physiology, vol VII/6A. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 358–439
Stavenga D, Franceschini N (1981) Fly visual pigment states, rhodopsin R490, metarhodopsin M and M' studied by transmission and fluorescence microspectrophotometryin vivo. In: Invest Ophthalmol Visual Sci (ARVO 1981 Suppl) 20:111 (Abstract)
Vogt K, Kirschfeld K (1983) Sensitizing pigment in the fly. Biophys Struct Mech 9:319–328 (1983)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Miller, G.V., Itoku, K.A., Fleischer, A.B. et al. Studies of fluorescence inDrosophila compound eyes: changes induced by intense light and vitamin A deprivation. J. Comp. Physiol. 154, 297–305 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00604996
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00604996