Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.1.4.3 (phospholipase C)
18,461 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Substantial evidence implicates the phosphoinositide cascade in invertebrate phototransduction, but the final pathway of excitation remains obscure. In order to test the hypothesis that Ca2+ is the excitatory messenger rapid concentration jumps of cytosolic Ca2+ were achieved in dissociated Drosophila photoreceptors by flash photolysis of the caged Ca2+ compounds DM-nitrophen and nitr-5. Both compounds were introduced via patch pipettes used to record whole-cell currents. Calibrations using INDO-1 and Mag-INDO-1 indicated that photolysis of DM-nitrophen (5 mM loaded with 4 mM Ca2+), raised Ca, to ca. 20-50 microM, and nitr-5 (same loading) to ca. 1-2 microM. In mutants lacking light responses (ora, lacking rhodopsin; norpA, lacking phospholipase C; trp, which is inactivated by conditioning lights), the only current evoked by photolysis of DM-nitrophen was a small inward current with no detectable latency. This current did not reverse at +80 mV and was blocked by substitution of external Na+ for Li+, suggesting it represents activation of an electrogenic Na+/Ca2+ exchanger. A similar current was also the only current elicited by caged Ca2+ during the 5 msec latent period in wild type (WT) photoreceptors. To investigate possible modulatory effects of caged Ca2+ on the light-activated conductance, cells were first stimulated with a saturating light stimulus, itself incapable of releasing significant Ca2+, and then the photolytic flash was discharged during the response. During the rising phase of the response, photolysis of DM-nitrophen (but not nitr-5) induced a pronounced facilitation in WT photoreceptors. When photolysed during the plateau phase both DM-nitrophen and nitr-5 induced a rapid inactivation of the light-induced current. By contrast, in trp photoreceptors, which lack one class of Ca2+ permeable light-sensitive channel, photolysis of DM-nitrophen induced a significant facilitation during the falling phase of the response, but during the rising phase photolysis significantly depressed the overall response. In conclusion, caged Ca2+ failed to activate any channels in Drosophila photoreceptors but profoundly affected the light-dependent channels once they have been activated.
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PMID:Photolysis of caged Ca2+ facilitates and inactivates but does not directly excite light-sensitive channels in Drosophila photoreceptors. 752 32

Heterotrimeric G proteins mediate a variety of signaling processes by coupling seven-transmembrane receptors to intracellular effector molecules. The Drosophila phototransduction cascade is a G protein-coupled signaling cascade that utilizes a phospholipase C (PLC beta) effector. PLC beta has been shown to be activated by Gq alpha in reconstituted systems. To determine whether a Gq-like protein couples rhodopsin to PLC, and to study its function, we isolated a mutant defective in a photoreceptor-specific Gq protein, DGq. We now demonstrate that Gq is essential for the activation of the phototransduction cascade in vivo. We also generated transgenic flies expressing DGq under an inducible promoter and show that it is possible to manipulate the sensitivity of a photoreceptor cell by controlled expression of DGq. Characterization of quantum bumps in mutants expressing less that 1% of the levels of DGq revealed that the rhodopsin-G protein interaction does not determine the gain of the single photon responses. Together, these results provide significant insight into the role of Gq in regulating the output of a photoreceptor cell.
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PMID:Gq alpha protein function in vivo: genetic dissection of its role in photoreceptor cell physiology. 757 40

Light stimulates phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate phospholipase C (PLC) activity in Drosophila photoreceptors. We have investigated the mechanism of this reaction by assaying PLC activity in Drosophila head membranes using exogenous phospholipid substrates. PLC activation depends on the photoconversion of rhodopsin to metarhodopsin and is reduced in norpAEE5 PLC and ninaEP332 rhodopsin mutants. NorpA PLC is stimulated by light at free Ca2+ concentrations between 10 nM and 1 microM. This finding is consistent with a Ca(2+)-mediated positive feedback mechanism that contributes to the rapid temporal response of invertebrate photoreceptor cells. The guanyl nucleotide dependence of light-stimulated PLC activity indicates that a G protein regulates NorpA. This was confirmed by the observation that light stimulation of PLC activity is deficient in mutants that lack the eye-specific G protein beta subunit G beta e. These results indicate that G beta e functions as the beta subunit of the G protein coupling rhodopsin to NorpA PLC.
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PMID:G protein control of Drosophila photoreceptor phospholipase C. 775 11

Mutations in the norpA gene of Drosophila melanogaster severely affect the light-evoked photoreceptor potential with strong mutations rendering the fly blind. The norpA gene has been proposed to encode phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PLC), which enzymes play a pivotal role in one of the largest classes of signaling pathways known. A chimeric norpA minigene was constructed by placing the norpA cDNA behind an R1-6 photoreceptor cell-specific rhodopsin promoter. This minigene was transferred into norpAP24 mutant by P-element-mediated germline transformation to determine whether it could rescue the phototransduction defect concomitant with restoring PLC activity. Western blots of head homogenates stained with norpA antiserum show that norpA protein is restored in heads of transformed mutants. Moreover, transformants exhibit a large amount of measurable PLC activity in heads, whereas heads of norpAP24 mutant exhibit very little to none. Immunohistochemical staining of tissue sections using norpA antiserum confirm that expression of norpA protein in transformants localizes in the retina, more specifically in rhabdomeres of R1-6 photoreceptor cells, but not R7 or R8 photoreceptor cells. Furthermore, electrophysiological analyses reveal that transformants exhibit a restoration of light-evoked photoreceptor responses in R1-6 photoreceptor cells, but not in R7 or R8 photoreceptor cells. This is the strongest evidence thus far supporting the hypothesis that the norpA gene encodes phospholipase C that is utilized in phototransduction.
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PMID:Phospholipase C rescues visual defect in norpA mutant of Drosophila melanogaster. 776 26

The regulation of phospholipase A2 by G protein-coupled receptors is examined in CHO cells which normally express the purinergic receptor and have been transfected with bovine rhodopsin. The purinergic receptor has been reported to activate both phospholipase C and phospholipase A2 in this cell line. In contrast, bovine rhodopsin by itself is not able to activate phospholipase A2. However, the photoreceptor does potentiate purinergic receptor-mediated phospholipase A2 activation in a light-dependent manner. Both the purinergic receptor stimulation of phospholipase A2 and the enhanced activity mediated by rhodopsin are completely pertussis toxin-sensitive, suggesting the regulation of phospholipase A2 by a member of the Gi family of G proteins. Both of these receptors also inhibit adenylyl cyclase activity. Rhodopsin-mediated inhibition of adenylyl cyclase is pertussis toxin-sensitive, whereas inhibition by the purinergic receptor is calcium-sensitive but not pertussis toxin-sensitive. These results suggest (1) that rhodopsin is similar to other receptors that normally couple to Gi when expressed in cultured cells and (2) that regulation of adenylyl cyclase and PLA2 in CHO cells by rhodopsin and the purinergic receptor occur via distinct pathways.
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PMID:The coupling of pertussis toxin-sensitive G proteins to phospholipase A2 and adenylyl cyclase in CHO cells expressing bovine rhodopsin. 781 32

Invertebrate visual transduction is thought to be initiated by photoactivation of rhodopsin and its subsequent interaction with a guanyl nucleotide-binding protein (G protein). The identities of the G protein and its target effector have remained elusive, although evidence suggests the involvement of a phospholipase C (PLC). We have identified a phosphatidylinositol-specific PLC from the cytosol of squid retina. The enzyme was purified to near-homogeneity by a combination of carboxymethyl-Sepharose and heparin-Sepharose chromatography. The purified PLC, identified as an approximately 140-kDa protein by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels, hydrolyzed phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) at a rate of 10-15 mumol/min/mg of protein with 1 microM Ca2+. The partial amino acid sequence of the protein showed homology with a PLC cloned from a Drosophila head library (PLC21) and lesser homology with Drosophila norpA protein and mammalian PLC beta isozymes. Reconstitution of purified squid PLC with an AlF(-)-activated 44-kDa G protein alpha subunit extracted from squid photoreceptor membranes resulted in a significant increase in PIP2 hydrolysis over a range of Ca2+ concentrations while reconstitution with mammalian Gt alpha or Gi 1 alpha was without effect. These results suggest that cephalopod phototransduction is mediated by G alpha-44 activation of a 140-kDa cytosolic PLC.
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PMID:Purification, characterization, and partial amino acid sequence of a G protein-activated phospholipase C from squid photoreceptors. 782 22

We examined the roles of the Drosophila Gq alpha proteins (DGq) in the phototransduction pathway. The DGq proteins immunolocalized to the ocelli and all eight retinular photoreceptor cell rhabdomeres. An affinity-purified anti-DGq alpha immunoglobulin blocked the light-dependent GTP hydrolysis activity associated with Drosophila head membranes in vitro, suggesting that rhodopsin stimulated DGq. Dominantly active DGq1 mutants exhibited a light-independent GTPase activity and abnormal electrophysiological light responses, such as reduced retinal sensitivity and slow response kinetics compared with wild-type flies. Dominant DGq2 mutants exhibited a light-independent GTPase activity with normal electrophysiological light responses. Retinas of double mutants of DGq1, but not DGq2, with the light-dependent retinal degeneration mutant rdgB degenerated even in the dark. DGq1 stimulation of rdgB retinal degeneration in the dark was norpA-dependent. These results indicate that DGq1 mediates the stimulation by light-activated rhodopsin of the norpA-encoded phospholipase C in the visual transduction cascade.
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PMID:The Drosophila dgq gene encodes a G alpha protein that mediates phototransduction. 794 51

Adrenergic receptors for adrenaline and noradrenaline belong to the large multigenic family of receptors coupled to GTP-binding proteins. Three pharmacologic types have been identified: alpha 1-, alpha 2-, and beta-adrenergic receptors. Each of these has three subtypes, characterized by both structural and functional differences. The alpha 2 and beta receptors are coupled negatively and positively, respectively, to adenylyl cyclase via Gi or Gs regulatory proteins, and the alpha 1 receptors modulate phospholipase C via the Go protein. Subtype expression is regulated at the level of the gene, the mRNA, and the protein through various transcriptional and postsynthetic mechanisms. Adrenergic receptors constitute, after rhodopsin, one of the best studied models for the other receptors coupled to G proteins that are likely to display similar structural and functional properties.
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PMID:Structure, function, and regulation of adrenergic receptors. 840 Dec 5

Phospholipase C (PLC) was purified from squid retina. Soluble Gq alpha, membrane Gq alpha and G beta gamma were isolated from GTP gamma S-treated and light-illuminated photoreceptor membranes. The membrane Gq alpha stimulated phosphatidyl inositol-phospholipase C (PI-PLC) activity in a dose-dependent manner. Soluble Gq alpha and membrane G beta gamma showed no stimulating effects on PLC. GTP gamma S-binding was found exclusively in membrane fraction, with very little present in the KCl-soluble fraction which contained soluble Gq alpha. These results indicate that light-activated rhodopsin activates PLC through membrane-bound Gq alpha and suggest that the rhodopsin/Gq/PLC cascade might be the pathway of phototransduction in squid photoreceptors.
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PMID:Squid photoreceptor phospholipase C is stimulated by membrane Gq alpha but not by soluble Gq alpha. 854 50

Phototransduction systems in vertebrates and invertebrates share a great deal of similarity in overall strategy but differ significantly in the underlying molecular machinery. Both are rhodopsin-based G protein-coupled signaling cascades displaying exquisite sensitivity and broad dynamic range. However, light activation of vertebrate photoreceptors leads to activation of a cGMP-phosphodiesterase effector and the generation of a hyperpolarizing response. In contrast, activation of invertebrate photoreceptors, like Drosophila, leads to stimulation of phospholipase C and the generation of a depolarizing receptor potential. The comparative study of these two systems of phototransduction offers the opportunity to understand how similar biological problems may be solved by different molecular mechanisms of signal transduction. The study of this process in Drosophila, a system ideally suited to genetic and molecular manipulation, allows us to dissect the function and regulation of such a complex signaling cascade in its normal cellular environment. In this manuscript I review some of our recent findings and the strategies used to dissect this process.
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PMID:The biology of vision of Drosophila. 857 May 97


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