Background: Appropriate termination of photoresponse is critical for photoreceptors to achieve high temporal resolution and to prevent excessive Ca 2ϩ -induced cell toxicity. Results: We isolated a novel G␣ q mutant allele and revealed that metarhodopsin/G q interaction affects Arr2-Rh1 binding. Conclusion: G q modulates the termination of phototransduction and prevents retinal degeneration. Significance: Our study revealed the novel role of G q in phototransduction deactivation and in retinal degeneration.Appropriate termination of the phototransduction cascade is critical for photoreceptors to achieve high temporal resolution and to prevent excessive Ca 2؉ -induced cell toxicity. Using a genetic screen to identify defective photoresponse mutants in Drosophila, we isolated and identified a novel G␣ q mutant allele, which has defects in both activation and deactivation. We revealed that G q modulates the termination of the light response and that metarhodopsin/G q interaction affects subsequent arrestin-rhodopsin (Arr2-Rh1) binding, which mediates the deactivation of metarhodopsin. We further showed that the G␣ q mutant undergoes light-dependent retinal degeneration, which is due to the slow accumulation of stable Arr2-Rh1 complexes. Our study revealed the roles of G q in mediating photoresponse termination and in preventing retinal degeneration. This pathway may represent a general rapid feedback regulation of G protein-coupled receptor signaling.Heterotrimeric G proteins play pivotal roles in mediating extracellular signals from hormones, neurotransmitters, peptides, as well as sensory stimuli to intracellular signaling pathways (1, 2). In Drosophila photoreceptors, G proteins are essential for the activation of the phototransduction cascade (3, 4). Photon absorption leads to the photoisomerization of chromophores, resulting in the formation of activated metarhodopsin. In turn, metarhodopsin activates heterotrimeric G proteins and PLC.2 The activation of PLC leads to transient receptor potential and transient receptor potential-like channels opening and extracellular Ca 2ϩ influx (5-8). It is also critical for each step of the phototransduction cascade to be terminated appropriately, which is essential for the high temporal resolution of fly vision (9, 10). The most important step in phototransduction termination is the deactivation of metarhodopsin. During this step, arrestin (Arr2) plays an important role by displacing the G q ␣ subunit and allowing it to bind with rhodopsin (Rh1) (11,12). Unlike other G proteincoupled receptors (GPCRs), the phosphorylation of fly rhodopsin is not required for its deactivation (13) but is essential for its endocytosis (11). In contrast, the dephosphorylation of rhodopsin by retinal degeneration C (RDGC) is essential for receptor deactivation (14). Ca 2ϩ also plays critical roles in regulating the termination of the photoresponse in Drosophila (8,15,16). Several proteins that mediate this Ca 2ϩ -regulated termination have been identified, such as eye-specific protein kinase C...