Origin and adaptation of green-sensitive (RH2) pigments in vertebrates.

ABSTRACT: One of the critical times for the survival of animals is twilight where the most abundant visible lights are between 400 and 550 nanometres (nm). Green-sensitive RH2 pigments help nonmammalian vertebrate species to better discriminate wavelengths in this blue-green region. Here, evaluation of the wavelengths of maximal absorption (λ_max s) of genetically engineered RH2 pigments representing 13 critical stages of vertebrate evolution revealed that the RH2 pigment of the most recent common ancestor of vertebrates had a λ_max of 503 nm, while the 12 ancestral pigments exhibited an expanded range in λ_max s between 474 and 524 nm, and present-day RH2 pigments have further expanded the range to ~ 450-530 nm. During vertebrate evolution, eight out of the 16 signific

SUBMITTER: Yokoyama S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7193153 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature