In search of the holy grail for Drosophila TRP.
June 28th, 2008 | by admin |In search of the holy grail for Drosophila TRP.
Activation of the archetypal Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channel, which is essential for Drosophila phototransduction, depends on a phospholipase C (PLC). However, the precise mechanism linking PLC to the gating of TRP has been elusive. In this issue of Neuron, Leung et al. provide compelling evidence that a diacylglycerol (DAG) lipase (INAE), acting downstream of the PLC, is essential for opening TRP. These results strongly support the model that a DAG metabolite is critical for TRP activation and suggest that mammalian DAG lipases may play similar roles.
Montell C.
Departments of Biological Chemistry and Neuroscience, Center for Sensory Biology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. cmontell@jhmi.edu