title: Novel opsin gene variation in large-bodied, diurnal lemurs.
abstract: Some primate populations include both trichromatic and dichromatic (red-green colour blind) individuals due to allelic variation at the X-linked opsin locus. This polymorphic trichromacy is well described in day-active New World monkeys. Less is known about colour vision in Malagasy lemurs, but, unlike New World monkeys, only some day-active lemurs are polymorphic, while others are dichromatic. The evolutionary pressures underlying these differences in lemurs are unknown, but aspects of species ecology, including variation in activity pattern, are hypothesized to play a role. Limited data on X-linked opsin variation in lemurs make such hypotheses difficult to evaluate. We provide the first detailed examination of X-linked opsin variation across a lemur clade (Indriidae). We sequenced the X-linked opsin in the most strictly diurnal and largest extant lemur,Indri indri, and nine species of smaller, generally diurnal indriids (Propithecus). Although nocturnalAvahi(sister taxon toPropithecus) lacks a polymorphism, at least eight species of diurnal indriids have two or more X-linked opsin alleles. Four rainforest-living taxa-I. indriand the three largestPropithecusspecies-have alleles not previously documented in lemurs. Moreover, we identified at least three opsin alleles inIndriwith peak spectral sensitivities similar to some New World monkeys.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA rachel_jacobs@gwu.edu rlynjacobs@gmail.com.|Centre ValBio Research Station, Ranomafana, Fianarantsoa, Madagascar.
authors.forename: Rachel L
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6075-7767
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Tammie S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: MacFie
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.|Department of Anthropology, University at Albany-SUNY, Albany, NY 12222, USA.
authors.forename: Amanda N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Spriggs
authors.affiliation: Centre ValBio Research Station, Ranomafana, Fianarantsoa, Madagascar.|Department of Anthropology, Hunter College-CUNY, and The New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP), New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea L
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4722-0532
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Baden
authors.affiliation: Centre ValBio Research Station, Ranomafana, Fianarantsoa, Madagascar.|Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
authors.forename: Toni Lyn
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5865-5294
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Morelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA.
authors.forename: Mitchell T
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2088-0028
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Irwin
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA 22807, USA.
authors.forename: Richard R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Lawler
authors.affiliation: Anthropologisches Institut, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5883-0208
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pastorini
authors.affiliation: Centre ValBio Research Station, Ranomafana, Fianarantsoa, Madagascar.
authors.forename: Mireya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mayor
authors.affiliation: Conservation Genetics Department, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, Omaha, NE 68107, USA.
authors.forename: Runhua
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Conservation Genetics Department, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, Omaha, NE 68107, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Culligan
authors.affiliation: Conservation Genetics Department, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, Omaha, NE 68107, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa T R
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8929-1593
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center, Kellnerweg 4, Göttingen 37077, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4801-487X
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Kappeler
authors.affiliation: Centre ValBio Research Station, Ranomafana, Fianarantsoa, Madagascar.|Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: Conservation Genetics Department, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, Omaha, NE 68107, USA.
authors.forename: Edward E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Louis
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Nicholas I
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5545-1517
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Mundy
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA bradleyjbrenda@gwu.edu.
authors.forename: Brenda J
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7084-0385
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Bradley
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055253:Color Vision / Q000235:genetics*; D017753:Ecosystem; D050172:Genes, X-Linked; D055355:Opsins / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D011443:Strepsirhini / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D055355:Opsins
keywords: Indri; Propithecus; colour vision; primate; sensory ecology