Cone visual pigments of aquatic mammals
It has long been hypothesized that the visual systems of animals are evolutionarily adapted to their visual environment. The entrance many millions of years ago of mammals into the sea gave these new aquatic mammals completely novel visual surroundings with respect to light availability and predomin...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0952523805226159 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0952523805226159 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0952523805226159 2024-05-12T08:04:50+00:00 Cone visual pigments of aquatic mammals NEWMAN, LUCY A. ROBINSON, PHYLLIS R. 2005 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0952523805226159 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0952523805226159 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Visual Neuroscience volume 22, issue 6, page 873-879 ISSN 0952-5238 1469-8714 Sensory Systems Physiology journal-article 2005 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0952523805226159 2024-04-18T06:54:01Z It has long been hypothesized that the visual systems of animals are evolutionarily adapted to their visual environment. The entrance many millions of years ago of mammals into the sea gave these new aquatic mammals completely novel visual surroundings with respect to light availability and predominant wavelengths. This study examines the cone opsins of marine mammals, hypothesizing, based on previous studies [Fasick et al. (1998) and Levenson & Dizon (2003)], that the deep-dwelling marine mammals would not have color vision because the pressure to maintain color vision in the dark monochromatic ocean environment has been relaxed. Short-wavelength-sensitive (SWS) and long-wavelength-sensitive (LWS) cone opsin genes from two orders ( Cetacea and Sirenia ) and an additional suborder ( Pinnipedia ) of aquatic mammals were amplified from genomic DNA (for SWS) and cDNA (for LWS) by PCR, cloned, and sequenced. All animals studied from the order Cetacea have SWS pseudogenes, whereas a representative from the order Sirenia has an intact SWS gene, for which the corresponding mRNA was found in the retina. One of the pinnipeds studied (harp seal) has an SWS pseudogene, while another species (harbor seal) appeared to have an intact SWS gene. However, no SWS cone opsin mRNA was found in the harbor seal retina, suggesting a promoter or splice site mutation preventing transcription of the gene. The LWS opsins from the different species were expressed in mammalian cells and reconstituted with the 11- cis -retinal chromophore in order to determine maximal absorption wavelengths (λ max ) for each. The deeper dwelling Cetacean species had blue shifted λ max values compared to shallower-dwelling aquatic species. Taken together, these findings support the hypothesis that in the monochromatic oceanic habitat, the pressure to maintain color vision has been relaxed and mutations are retained in the SWS genes, resulting in pseudogenes. Additionally, LWS opsins are retained in the retina and, in deeper-dwelling animals, are blue ... Article in Journal/Newspaper harbor seal Harp Seal Cambridge University Press Visual Neuroscience 22 6 873 879 |
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English |
topic |
Sensory Systems Physiology |
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Sensory Systems Physiology NEWMAN, LUCY A. ROBINSON, PHYLLIS R. Cone visual pigments of aquatic mammals |
topic_facet |
Sensory Systems Physiology |
description |
It has long been hypothesized that the visual systems of animals are evolutionarily adapted to their visual environment. The entrance many millions of years ago of mammals into the sea gave these new aquatic mammals completely novel visual surroundings with respect to light availability and predominant wavelengths. This study examines the cone opsins of marine mammals, hypothesizing, based on previous studies [Fasick et al. (1998) and Levenson & Dizon (2003)], that the deep-dwelling marine mammals would not have color vision because the pressure to maintain color vision in the dark monochromatic ocean environment has been relaxed. Short-wavelength-sensitive (SWS) and long-wavelength-sensitive (LWS) cone opsin genes from two orders ( Cetacea and Sirenia ) and an additional suborder ( Pinnipedia ) of aquatic mammals were amplified from genomic DNA (for SWS) and cDNA (for LWS) by PCR, cloned, and sequenced. All animals studied from the order Cetacea have SWS pseudogenes, whereas a representative from the order Sirenia has an intact SWS gene, for which the corresponding mRNA was found in the retina. One of the pinnipeds studied (harp seal) has an SWS pseudogene, while another species (harbor seal) appeared to have an intact SWS gene. However, no SWS cone opsin mRNA was found in the harbor seal retina, suggesting a promoter or splice site mutation preventing transcription of the gene. The LWS opsins from the different species were expressed in mammalian cells and reconstituted with the 11- cis -retinal chromophore in order to determine maximal absorption wavelengths (λ max ) for each. The deeper dwelling Cetacean species had blue shifted λ max values compared to shallower-dwelling aquatic species. Taken together, these findings support the hypothesis that in the monochromatic oceanic habitat, the pressure to maintain color vision has been relaxed and mutations are retained in the SWS genes, resulting in pseudogenes. Additionally, LWS opsins are retained in the retina and, in deeper-dwelling animals, are blue ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
NEWMAN, LUCY A. ROBINSON, PHYLLIS R. |
author_facet |
NEWMAN, LUCY A. ROBINSON, PHYLLIS R. |
author_sort |
NEWMAN, LUCY A. |
title |
Cone visual pigments of aquatic mammals |
title_short |
Cone visual pigments of aquatic mammals |
title_full |
Cone visual pigments of aquatic mammals |
title_fullStr |
Cone visual pigments of aquatic mammals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cone visual pigments of aquatic mammals |
title_sort |
cone visual pigments of aquatic mammals |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0952523805226159 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0952523805226159 |
genre |
harbor seal Harp Seal |
genre_facet |
harbor seal Harp Seal |
op_source |
Visual Neuroscience volume 22, issue 6, page 873-879 ISSN 0952-5238 1469-8714 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0952523805226159 |
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Visual Neuroscience |
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22 |
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6 |
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873 |
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879 |
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