Daily activity patterns influence retinal morphology, signatures of selection, and spectral tuning of opsin genes in colubrid snakes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Morphological divergences of snake retinal structure point to complex evolutionary processes and adaptations. The Colubridae family has a remarkable variety of retinal structure that can range from all-cone and all-rod to duplex (cone/rod) retinas. To explore whether nocturnal versus diurnal activity is responsible for constraints on molecular evolution and plays a role in visual opsin spectral tuning of colubrids, we carried out molecular evolution analyses of the visual opsin genes LWS, RH1, and SWS1 from 17 species and performed morphological analyses.

Results

Phylogenetic reconstructions of the RH1 and LWS recovered major clades characterized by primarily diurnal or primarily nocturnal activity patterns, in contrast with the topology for SWS1, which is very si

SUBMITTER: Hauzman E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5725783 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature