Opsin gene duplication and diversification in the guppy, a model for sexual selection.

ABSTRACT: Identification of genes that control variation in adaptive characters is a prerequisite for understanding the processes that drive sexual and natural selection. Male coloration and female colour perception play important roles in mate choice in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata), a model organism for studies of natural and sexual selection. We examined a potential source for the known variation in colour perception, by analysing genomic and complementary DNA sequences of genes that code for visual pigment proteins. We find high sequence variability, both within and between populations, and expanded copy number for long-wave sensitive (LWS) opsin genes. Alleles with non-synonymous changes that suggest dissimilar spectral tuning properties occur in the same population and even in the same indiv

SUBMITTER: Hoffmann M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1679887 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature