A simple method for studying the molecular mechanisms of ultraviolet and violet reception in vertebrates.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many vertebrate species use ultraviolet (UV) reception for such basic behaviors as foraging and mating, but many others switched to violet reception and improved their visual resolution. The respective phenotypes are regulated by the short wavelength-sensitive (SWS1) pigments that absorb light maximally (λmax) at ~360 and 395-440 nm. Because of strong epistatic interactions, the biological significance of the extensive mutagenesis results on the molecular basis of spectral tuning in SWS1 pigments and the mechanisms of their phenotypic adaptations remains uncertain.

Results

The magnitudes of the λmax-shifts caused by mutations in a present-day SWS1 pigment and by the corresponding forward mutations in its ancestral pigment are often dramatically different. To resol

SUBMITTER: Yokoyama S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4802639 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature