Opsin-based photopigments expressed in the retina of a South American pit viper, Bothrops atrox (Viperidae)

ABSTRACT: Although much is known about the visual system of vertebrates in general, studies regarding vision in reptiles, and snakes in particular, are scarce. Reptiles display diverse ocular structures, including different types of retinae such as pure cone, mostly rod, or duplex retinas (containing both rods and cones); however, the same five opsin-based photopigments are found in many of these animals. It is thought that ancestral snakes were nocturnal and/or fossorial, and, as such, they have lost two pigments, but retained three visual opsin classes. These are the RH1 gene (rod opsin or rhodopsin-like-1) expressed in rods and two cone opsins, namely LWS (long-wavelength-sensitive) and SWS1 (short-wavelength-sensitive-1) genes. Until recently, the study of snake photopigments has been largely ig

SUBMITTER: Katti C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6313163 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature