Publications

RANDOMLY occurring, discrete voltage fluctuations (quantum bumps) have been recorded in photoreceptors of several arthropods1–4. It is thought that these bumps sum to produce the receptor potential5,6. We have investigated the relationship between photoexcitation of the visual pigment and the production of quantum bumps using a mutant of Drosophila melanogaster—a third chromosome recessive mutant described by Cosens and Manning7, in which the electroretinogram decays to baseline during a strong, prolonged stimulus. We will call this mutant the transient receptor potential mutant (trp).