Evolution of visual pigments in geckos

Most geckos are nocturnal forms and possess rod retinas, but some diurnal genera have pure-cone retinas. We isolated cDNAs encoding the diurnal gecko opsins, dg1 and dg2, similar to nocturnal gecko P521 and P467, respectively. Despite the large morphological differences between the diurnal and noctu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inFEBS letters Vol. 445; no. 1; pp. 36 - 40
Main Authors Taniguchi, Yuki, Hisatomi, Osamu, Yoshida, Masao, Tokunaga, Fumio
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Elsevier B.V 19.02.1999
Subjects
Amino Acid Sequence
Animals
Base Sequence
cDNA cloning
Diurnal gecko ( Phelsuma madagascariensis longinsulae)
DNA, Complementary
Evolution, Molecular
In situ hybridization
Lizards - genetics
Molecular Sequence Data
Rod Opsins - analysis
Rod Opsins - classification
Rod Opsins - genetics
Visual pigment
cDNA cloning
Diurnal gecko ( Phelsuma madagascariensis longinsulae)
Visual pigment
In situ hybridization
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Summary:Most geckos are nocturnal forms and possess rod retinas, but some diurnal genera have pure-cone retinas. We isolated cDNAs encoding the diurnal gecko opsins, dg1 and dg2, similar to nocturnal gecko P521 and P467, respectively. Despite the large morphological differences between the diurnal and nocturnal gecko photoreceptor types, they express phylogenetically closely related opsins. These results provide molecular evidence for the reverse transmutation, that is, rods of an ancestral nocturnal gecko have backed into cones of diurnal geckos. The amino acid substitution rates of dg1 and dg2 are higher than those of P521 and P467, respectively. Changes of behavior regarding photic environment may have contributed to acceleration of amino acid substitutions in the diurnal gecko opsins.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
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ISSN:0014-5793
1873-3468
DOI:10.1016/S0014-5793(99)00089-7