Photoreceptor maintenance and degeneration in the norpA (no receptor potential-A) mutant of Drosophila melanogaster.

The norpA (no receptor potential) mutant of Drosophila melanogaster has a visual transduction deficit. This study determines whether lack of function leads to structural repercussions in photoreceptor cells of the compound eye and their synapses. For this purpose, we examined thin sections and freeze fracture replicas of norpA using transmission electron microscopy. Ultrastructurally, retinula cells in the compound eye and all aspects of the first optic neuropil (lamina ganglionaris) are essentially normal in newly emerged flies. However, as expected, intraretinular pigment granules fail to show their light elicited aggregation; further, the P face particle density is somewhat lower than in wild type. We confirm that there are unusual membrane specializations on the plasmalemma of the retinula cell dubbed "zippers." Zippers appear to increase with age and can cause a distorted geometry of ommatidia. Only a few retinula cells ultimately degenerate in norpA, and the proportion may not differ from that of wild type. Despite the absence of the receptor potential in norpA, many aspects of the turnover of rhabdomeric membrane appear to be as in wild type.