title: Molecular evolution of color vision of zebra finch.
abstract: We have isolated and sequenced the RH1(Tg), RH2(Tg), SWS2(Tg), and LWS(Tg) opsin cDNAs from zebra finch retinas. Upon binding to 11-cis-retinal, these opsins regenerate the corresponding photosensitive molecules, visual pigments. The absorption spectra of visual pigments have a broad bell shape, with the peak being called lambda(max). Previously, SWS1(Tg) opsin cDNA was isolated from zebra finch retinal RNA, expressed in cultured COS1 cells, reconstituted with 11-cis-retinal, and the lambda(max) of the resulting visual pigment was shown to be 359nm. Here, the lambda(max) values of the RH1(Tg), RH2(Tg), SWS2(Tg), and LWS(Tg) pigments are determined to be 501, 505, 440, and 560nm, respectively. Molecular evolutionary analyses suggest that specific amino acid replacements in the SWS1 and SWS2 pigments, resulting from accelerated evolution, must have been responsible for their functional divergences among the avian pigments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Syracuse University, 130 College Place, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA. syokoyam@mailbox.syr.edu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Blow
authors.forename: F B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Radlwimmer
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003118:Color Perception / Q000235:genetics*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017299:Rod Opsins / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D020308:Songbirds / Q000235:genetics*; D013053:Spectrophotometry
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D017299:Rod Opsins