The Multifaceted Roles of Opsins in Sensory Reception

Opsins are known for their transmembrane signalling, through activation by light, enabling image-forming vision. However, they are represented not just in the retina but the brain and extra-cephalically throughout animal tissues, including the skin. What are they doing? Investigation of sensory modalities and genetics in the fly, Drosophila, has helped make the evolution of these proteins and their functional development clearer and shown a remarkable commonality to the role of opsins in mammalian sensory development, structure and function, helping to reveal the importance of their contribution to the evolution of mammalian anatomy and physiology.