Extraocular photoreception in the skin of the squid Doryteuthis pealeii
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1
University of Maryland Baltimore County, Biological Sciences, United States
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2
Marine Biological Laboratory, United States
Coleoid cephalopods have visual systems that almost always contain a single spectral type of photoreceptor. Despite their monochromatic visual system, they are capable of dynamic skin patterning initiated by visual cues. This dynamic patterning is achieved by manipulation of pigment organs, called chromatophores. New data indicate that photoreceptors exist in the skin of coleoid cephalopods. Here, we present evidence suggesting that multiple components of the phototransduction cascade are present in the skin of the longfin squid, Doryteuthis pealeii. Using RT-PCR, mRNA encoding rhodopsin and retinochrome were found in the skin throughout the body of D. pealeii. Additionally, rhodopsin and retinochrome transcripts were present in RNA extracts from isolated chromatophores that were dissociated from fin and mantle skin. Sequence analyses revealed that rhodopsin and retinochrome transcripts found in the skin and isolated chromatophores have the same predicted amino acid sequences as the respective transcripts in the retina. We used immunohistochemical staining to show that an identical rhodopsin protein is expressed in the retina, fin, arms, and various regions of the mantle (Figure 1). Furthermore, rhodopsin protein expressed in the skin is localized to membranes of chromatophores and radial muscle fibers. These findings suggest that cephalopods have photoreceptors associated with chromatophores, and that these use the same visual pigment that exists in the retina. Currently, we are using immunohistochemistry to determine expression patterns of retinochrome in the retina and skin, and exploring the presence of other components of the phototransduction cascade in the skin of D. pealeii.
References
Figure 1. Confocal images of immunohistochemical staining show presence of rhodopsin (white) in the outer segments of the retina (A), and chromatophores on the fin (B), dorsal mantle (C), ventral mantle (D), arm 1 (E), arm 2 (F), arm 3 (G), and arm 4 (H). Scale bar 100μm.
Keywords:
extraocular photoreceptor,
dermal opsin,
dynamic patterning,
Chromatophores,
Squid
Conference:
International Conference on Invertebrate Vision, Fjälkinge, Sweden, 1 Aug - 8 Aug, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Oral presentation preferred
Topic:
Transduction, signalling and coding
Citation:
Kingston
AC,
Bell
G,
Kuzirian
A,
Hanlon
RT and
Cronin
TW
(2019). Extraocular photoreception in the skin of the squid Doryteuthis pealeii.
Front. Physiol.
Conference Abstract:
International Conference on Invertebrate Vision.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fphys.2013.25.00009
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Received:
19 Feb 2013;
Published Online:
09 Dec 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Alexandra C Kingston, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Biological Sciences, Baltimore, MD, 21250, United States, acnahm@gmail.com