The Last Common Ancestor of Most Bilaterian Animals Possessed at Least Nine Opsins.

ABSTRACT: The opsin gene family encodes key proteins animals use to sense light and has expanded dramatically as it originated early in animal evolution. Understanding the origins of opsin diversity can offer clues to how separate lineages of animals have repurposed different opsin paralogs for different light-detecting functions. However, the more we look for opsins outside of eyes and from additional animal phyla, the more opsins we uncover, suggesting we still do not know the true extent of opsin diversity, nor the ancestry of opsin diversity in animals. To estimate the number of opsin paralogs present in both the last common ancestor of the Nephrozoa (bilaterians excluding Xenoacoelomorpha), and the ancestor of Cnidaria + Bilateria, we reconstructed a reconciled opsin phylogeny using sequences f

SUBMITTER: Ramirez MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5521729 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature