Contribution of opsins and chromophores to cone pigment variation across populations of Lake Victoria cichlids.

ABSTRACT: Adaptation to heterogeneous sensory environments has been implicated as a key parameter in speciation. Cichlid fish are a textbook example of divergent visual adaptation, mediated by variation in the sequences and expression levels of cone opsin genes (encoding the protein component of visual pigments). In some vertebrates including fish, visual sensitivity is also tuned by the ratio of vitamin A₁ /A₂ -derived chromophores (i.e., the light-sensitive component of the visual pigment bound to the opsin protein), where higher proportions of A₂ cause a more red-shifted wavelength absorbance. This study explores the variation in chromophore ratios across multiple cichlid populations in Lake Victoria, using as a proxy the expression of the gene Cyp27c1, which has

SUBMITTER: Wilwert E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9543281 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature