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The Journal of Heredity 2000:91(3)
© 2000 The American Genetic Association 91:215-220

Color vision of the coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) and adaptive evolution of rhodopsin (RH1) and rhodopsin-like (RH2) pigments

S Yokoyama

Department of Biology, 612 Biological Research Laboratories, Syracuse University, 130 College Pl., Syracuse, NY 13244-1220, USA E-mail: syokoyam@mailbox.syr.edu

The coelacanth, a 'living fossil', lives at a depth of about 200 m near the coast of the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean and receives only a narrow range of light at about 480 nm. To see the entire range of 'color' the Comoran coelacanth appears to use only rod-specific RH1 and cone-specific RH2 visual pigments, with the optimum light sensitivities ({lambda}max) at 478 nm and 485 nm, respectively. These blue-shifted {lambda}max values of RH1 and RH2 pigments are fully explained by independent double amino acid replacements E122Q/A292S and E122Q/M207L, respectively. More generally, currently available mutagenesis experiments identify only 10 amino acid changes that shift the {lambda}max values of visual pigments more than nm. Among these, D83N, E122Q, M207L, and A292S are associated strongly with the adaptive blue shifts in the {lambda}max values of RH1 and RH2 pigments in vertebrates.


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