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Published online April 23, 2007
doi:10.1083/jcb.200610081
The Journal of Cell Biology, Vol. 177, No. 2, 305-316
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $30.00
© 2007 Wang et al.
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Article

 Dissection of the pathway required for generation of vitamin A and for Drosophila phototransduction

Tao Wang, Yuchen Jiao, and Craig Montell

Department of Biological Chemistry, Department of Neuroscience, and Center for Sensory Biology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205

Correspondence to Craig Montell: cmontell{at}jhmi.edu

Dietary carotenoids are precursors for the production of retinoids, which participate in many essential processes, including the formation of the photopigment rhodopsin. Despite the importance of conversion of carotenoids to vitamin A (all-trans-retinol), many questions remain concerning the mechanisms that promote this process, including the uptake of carotenoids. We use the Drosophila visual system as a genetic model to study retinoid formation from ß-carotene. In a screen for mutations that affect the biosynthesis of rhodopsin, we identified a class B scavenger receptor, SANTA MARIA. We demonstrate that SANTA MARIA functions upstream of vitamin A formation in neurons and glia, which are outside of the retina. The protein is coexpressed and functionally coupled with the ß, ß-carotene-15, 15'-monooxygenase, NINAB, which converts ß-carotene to all-trans-retinal. Another class B scavenger receptor, NINAD, functions upstream of SANTA MARIA in the uptake of carotenoids, enabling us to propose a pathway involving multiple extraretinal cell types and proteins essential for the formation of rhodopsin.

Abbreviations used in this paper: BCO, ß, ß-carotene-15, 15' monooxygenase; EMS, ethyl methanesulfonate; ERG, electroretinogram; nina, neither inactivation nor afterpotential; norpA, no receptor potential A; PDA, prolonged depolarization afterpotential; pinta, PDA is not apparent; santa maria, scavenger receptor acting in neural tissue and majority of rhodopsin is absent; UAS, upstream activator sequence.


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