title: Isolation, DNA sequence and evolution of a color visual pigment gene of the blind cave fish Astyanax fasciatus.
abstract: Visual pigment genes have been isolated from a Mexican blind cave fish, Astyanax fasciatus. We report here the DNA sequence of one of these genes, which has 70% nucleotide similarity with both the human red and green pigment genes. This gene appears capable of encoding a functional protein and is probably responsible for the green-sensitive pigment found in the pineal organ of the blind cave fish (Tabata, 1982). The pattern of nucleotide substitutions most likely reflects functional adaptation of the visual pigment gene during the past 400 million years of fish evolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Ethology and Evolution, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 61820.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001766:Blindness; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D003118:Color Perception / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015342:DNA Probes; D005399:Fishes / Q000235:genetics*; D015723:Gene Library; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010802:Phylogeny; D012168:Retinal Pigments / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D012168:Retinal Pigments; D004247:DNA