Article
- The EMBO Journal (2004) 23, 811 - 822
- doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7600112
Published online: 12 February 2004
Subject Categories:
A lysosomal tetraspanin associated with retinal degeneration identified via a genome-wide screen
Hong Xu1, Seung-Jae Lee1, Emiko Suzuki2, Katherine D Dugan3, Alexander Stoddard3, Hong-Sheng Li1,a, Lewis A Chodosh3 and Craig Montell1
- Department of Biological Chemistry, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Department of Cancer Biology and Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Correspondence to:
Craig Montell, Department of Biological Chemistry, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 725 N Wolfe St., 408 WBSB, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. Tel.: +1 410 955 1199; Fax: +1 410 614 9573; E-mail: cmontell@jhmi.edu
aPresent address: Department of Neurobiology, Medical School, University of Massachusetts, Worcester, MA 01655, USA
Received 14 October 2003; Accepted 15 January 2004
Abstract
The Drosophila visual system has provided a model to study phototransduction and retinal degeneration. To identify new candidate proteins that contribute to these processes, we conducted a genome-wide screen for genes expressed predominately in the eye, using DNA microarrays. This screen appeared to be comprehensive as it led to the identification of all 22 eye-enriched genes previously shown to function in phototransduction or implicated in retinal degeneration. In addition, we identified 93 eye-enriched genes whose roles have not been previously defined. One of the eye-enriched genes encoded a member of a large family of transmembrane proteins, referred to as tetraspanins. We created a null mutation in the eye-enriched tetraspanin, Sunglasses (Sun), which resulted in light-induced retinal degeneration. We found that the Sun protein was distributed primarily in lysosomes, and functioned in a long-known but poorly understood phenomenon of light-induced degradation of rhodopsin. We propose that lysosomal tetraspanins in mammalian cells may also function in the downregulation of rhodopsin and other G-protein-coupled receptors, in response to intense or prolonged agonist stimulation.
Keywords:
- Drosophila,
- microarray,
- phototransduction,
- retinal degeneration,
- rhodopsin,
- tetraspanin
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated
REVIEWS
A common reference frame for movement plans in the posterior parietal cortex
Nature Reviews Neuroscience Review (01 Jul 2002)
Tetraspanin functions and associated microdomains
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology Review (01 Oct 2005)
NEWS AND VIEWS
Polarised light and insect vision
Nature News and Views (11 Dec 1975)
Evolutionary biology Fly eyes get the whole picture
Nature News and Views (12 Oct 2006)
RESEARCH
The EMBO Journal Article (12 Dec 2007)
