Color Vision Variation as Evidenced by Hybrid L/M Opsin Genes in Wild Populations of Trichromatic Alouatta New World Monkeys.

ABSTRACT: Platyrrhine (New World) monkeys possess highly polymorphic color vision owing to allelic variation of the single-locus L/M opsin gene on the X chromosome. Most species consist of female trichromats and female and male dichromats. Howlers (genus Alouatta) are an exception; they are considered to be routinely trichromatic with L and M opsin genes juxtaposed on the X chromosome, as seen in catarrhine primates (Old World monkeys, apes, and humans). Yet it is not known whether trichromacy is invariable in howlers. We examined L/M opsin variation in wild howler populations in Costa Rica and Nicaragua (Alouatta palliata) and Belize (A. pigra), using fecal DNA. We surveyed exon 5 sequences (containing the diagnostic 277th and 285th residues for λ_max) for 8 and 18 X

SUBMITTER: Matsushita Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3915081 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature