Ectopically Expressed Rhodopsin is Not Sensitive to X-rays

Visual perception of X-radiation is a well-documented, but poorly understood phenomenon. Early literature implicates scotopic rod cells and rod opsin in X-ray detection, however, evidence suggests that X-rays excite the retina via a different mechanism than visible light. While rhodopsin’s role in X-ray perception is unclear, the possibility that it could function as an X-ray receptor has led to speculation that it could act as a transgenically expressed X-ray receptor. If so, it could be used to transduce transcranial X-ray signals and control the activity of genetically targeted populations of neurons in a less invasive version of optogenetics, X-genetics. Here we investigate whether human rhodopsin (hRho) is capable of transducing X-ray signals when expressed outside of the retinal environment. We use a live-cell cAMP GloSensor luminescence assay to measure cAMP decreases in hRho-expressing HEK293 cells in response to visible light and X-ray stimulation. We show that cAMP GloSensor luminescence decreases are not observed in hRho-expressing HEK293 cells in response to X-ray stimulation, despite the presence of robust responses to visible light. Additionally, irradiation had no significant effect on cAMP GloSensor responses to subsequent visible light stimulation. These results indicate that ectopically expressed rhodopsin does not function as an X-ray receptor, and suggest that it is not capable of transducing transcranial X-ray signals into neural activity for X-ray mediated, genetically targeted neuromodulation.