non-visual parietopsins, member of the class A family of seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors
Parietopsin is a non-visual green light-sensitive opsin that was initially identified in the parietal eye of lizards. The vertebrate non-visual opsin family includes pinopsins, parapinopsin, VA (vertebrate ancient) opsins, and parietopsins. These non-visual opsins are expressed in various extra-retinal tissues and/or in non-rod, non-cone retinal cells. They are thought to be involved in light-dependent physiological functions such as photo-entrainment of circadian rhythm, photoperiodicity and body color change. Parietopsin belongs to the class A of the G protein-coupled receptors and shows strong homology to the vertebrate visual opsins.