Abstract
Many lines of evidence suggest that the ultraviolet (uv) sensitivity found in the most common photoreceptor class in the fly is due to a sensitizing pigment which transmits the energy of absorbed light quanta to the visual pigment (Kirschfeld et al. 1977). It is shown that the uv extinction of the rhabdomeres has a vibrational fine structure corresponding to that found in the receptors' spectral sensitivity (Gemperlein et al. 1980). The uv extinction is greatly reduced when flies are reared on a carotenoid-deficient diet, in which case the vibrational fine structure in sensitivity is also lost. Properties (extinction, fluorescence) of several groups of substances that could represent the sensitizing pigment are illustrated.
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Kirschfeld, K., Feiler, R., Hardie, R. et al. The sensitizing pigment in fly photoreceptors. Biophys. Struct. Mechanism 10, 81–92 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00535544
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00535544