scholarly journals Ultraviolet vision in lacertid lizards: evidence from retinal structure, eye transmittance, SWS1 visual pigment genes and behaviour

2014 ◽  
Vol 217 (16) ◽  
pp. 2899-2909 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. P. i. de Lanuza ◽  
E. Font
Author(s):  
Marisa S. McDonald ◽  
Sitara Palecanda ◽  
Jonathan H. Cohen ◽  
Megan L. Porter

Stomatopod crustaceans have among the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom, with up to twelve different color detection channels. The capabilities of these unique eyes include photoreception of ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths (<400 nm). UV vision has been well characterized in adult stomatopods but has not been previously demonstrated in the comparatively simpler larval eye. Larval stomatopod eyes are developmentally distinct from their adult counterpart and have been described as lacking the visual pigment diversity and morphological specializations found in adult eyes. However, recent studies have provided evidence that larval stomatopod eyes are more complex than previously thought and warrant closer investigation. Using electroretinogram recordings in live animals we found physiological evidence of blue and UV sensitive photoreceptors in larvae of the Caribbean stomatopod species Neogonodactylus oerstedii. Transcriptomes of individual larvae were used to identify the expression of three distinct UV opsins transcripts, which may indicate the presence of multiple UV spectral channels. This is the first paper to document UV vision in any larval stomatopod, expanding our understanding of the importance of UV sensitivity in plankton. Similar to adults, larval stomatopod eyes are more complex than expected and contain previously uncharacterized molecular diversity and physiological functions.


Neuron ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanshu Wang ◽  
Jennifer P. Macke ◽  
Shannath L. Merbs ◽  
Donald J. Zack ◽  
Brenda Klaunberg ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 54 (9) ◽  
pp. 525-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hisao Ueyama ◽  
Shoko Tanabe ◽  
Sanae Muraki-Oda ◽  
Shinichi Yamade ◽  
Masahito Ohji ◽  
...  

1994 ◽  
Vol 34 (19) ◽  
pp. 2483-2491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanwaljit S. Dulai ◽  
James K. Bowmaker ◽  
John D. Mollon ◽  
David M. Hunt

2009 ◽  
Vol 364 (1531) ◽  
pp. 2941-2955 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Hunt ◽  
Livia S. Carvalho ◽  
Jill A. Cowing ◽  
Wayne L. Davies

Variation in the types and spectral characteristics of visual pigments is a common mechanism for the adaptation of the vertebrate visual system to prevailing light conditions. The extent of this diversity in mammals and birds is discussed in detail in this review, alongside an in-depth consideration of the molecular changes involved. In mammals, a nocturnal stage in early evolution is thought to underlie the reduction in the number of classes of cone visual pigment genes from four to only two, with the secondary loss of one of these genes in many monochromatic nocturnal and marine species. The trichromacy seen in many primates arises from either a polymorphism or duplication of one of these genes. In contrast, birds have retained the four ancestral cone visual pigment genes, with a generally conserved expression in either single or double cone classes. The loss of sensitivity to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is a feature of both mammalian and avian visual evolution, with UV sensitivity retained among mammals by only a subset of rodents and marsupials. Where it is found in birds, it is not ancestral but newly acquired.


2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 370-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Ödeen ◽  
Olle Håstad ◽  
Per Alström

Diurnal birds belong to one of two classes of colour vision. These are distinguished by the maximum absorbance wavelengths of the SWS1 visual pigment sensitive to violet (VS) and ultraviolet (UVS). Shifts between the classes have been rare events during avian evolution. Gulls (Laridae) are the only shorebirds (Charadriiformes) previously reported to have the UVS type of opsin, but too few species have been sampled to infer that gulls are unique among shorebirds or that Laridae is monomorphic for this trait. We have sequenced the SWS1 opsin gene in a broader sample of species. We confirm that cysteine in the key amino acid position 90, characteristic of the UVS class, has been conserved throughout gull evolution but also that the terns Anous minutus, A. tenuirostris and Gygis alba , and the skimmer Rynchops niger carry this trait. Terns, excluding Anous and Gygis , share the VS conferring serine in position 90 with other shorebirds but it is translated from a codon more similar to that found in UVS shorebirds. The most parsimonious interpretation of these findings, based on a molecular gene tree, is a single VS to UVS shift and a subsequent reversal in one lineage.


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