Quantal basis of photoreceptor spectral sensitivity of Drosophila melanogaster.

Small potential fluctuations ("bumps"), boyh spontaneous and light induced, can be recorded intracellularly from the photoreceptors of Drosophila melanogaster. Statistical analyses of these bumps in the spectral range, 400-600 nm, lead to the following interpretations; (a) For weak stimuli at least, these bumps are the quantal units of the receptor potential. (b) Quanta of various wavelengths, when effectively absorbed, will elicit bumps of the same average size. (c) The spectral sensitivity of the receptor potential appears to have its origin in the relative efficiency of quantum bump production at different wavelengths, and not in the intrinsic difference in the properties of bumps produced by quanta of differenct wavelengths.