Sms^e00382 homozygotes are semi-lethal, with only a small proportion of individuals reaching adulthood compared to heterozygous controls; the few surviving adults (of both genders) are short-lived and present severe locomotor impairment in negative geotaxis assays, as compared to controls.

The eyes of Sms^e00382 homozygous adults present abnormal vacuoles in the retina at day 2 after eclosion, present a progressive loss of pigmentation and present progressive decreases of photoreceptor depolarization and synaptic response (ON and OFF transients), as compared to controls. The visual synapses within the lamina of these mutants are morphologically abnormal, as the presynaptic photoreceptor terminals show increases in single layer, double layer and multilayer membrane structures, and multilayer bodies, and mitochondria are less numerous, enlarged and frequently lack crista, as compared to controls. These synapses also present significant increases in the numbers of early endosomes (assessed by Rab5 puncta), autophagosomes (assessed by Atg8a puncta) and ubiquitinated protein puncta, present impaired autophagy flux (assessed by an Atg8a fluorescence-based pH sensor), and present impaired lysosome integrity (assessed by LAMP1 and Cathepsin L puncta), as compared to controls.

Sms^e00382 has partially lethal - majority die | recessive phenotype, non-suppressible by Scer\GAL4^Act.PU/Hsap\SMS^{443.UAS.Tag:FLAG}