Light is a potent stimulus for regulating circadian, hormonal, and behavioral systems. In
addition, light therapy is effective for certain affective disorders, sleep problems, and …

Organisms of all domains of life use photoreceptor proteins to sense and respond to light.
The light-sensitivity of photoreceptor proteins arises from bound chromophores such as …

The mammalian visual system encodes information over a remarkable breadth of
spatiotemporal scales and light intensities. This performance originates with its complement …

Life on earth is subject to alternating cycles of day and night imposed by the rotation of the
earth. Consequently, living things have evolved photodetective systems to synchronize their …

To permit direct functional analyses of neural circuits, we have developed a method for
stimulating groups of genetically designated neurons optically. Coexpression of the …

Visual transduction in the Drosophila compound eye functions through a pathway that
couples rhodopsin to phospholipase C (PLC) and the opening of transient receptor potential …

Anatomical Description of the Retina.............................. The Dioptric Apparatus............................
.............. The Pigment Cells............................................... The Basement Membrane …

In addition to rods and cones, the human retina contains light-sensitive ganglion cells that
express melanopsin, a photopigment with signal transduction mechanisms similar to that of …

In Drosophila, the major rhodopsin Rhl is synthesized in endoplasmic reticuIum (ER)-bound
ribosomes of the R1-R6 photoreceptor cells and is then transported to the rhabdomeres …

A third class of photoreceptors has recently been identified in the mammalian retina. They
are a rare cell type within the class of ganglion cells, which are the output cells of the retina …