Molecular genetics and the evolution of ultraviolet vision in vertebrates
Molecular genetics and the evolution of ultraviolet vision in vertebrates
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.201257398
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发表时间：
2001-09-25
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Yokoyama, S
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Shi, YS;Radlwimmer, FB;Yokoyama, S
尽管紫外线视觉在生物学上很重要，但其分子基础还没有得到很好的理解。在这里，我们提出的证据表明，脊椎动物的紫外线视觉是由紫外线色素中的八种特定氨基酸决定的。氨基酸序列分析表明，当代的紫外线色素继承了他们的紫外线敏感性从脊椎动物的祖先保留这八个氨基酸中的大部分。在鸟类谱系中，祖先的色素失去了紫外线敏感性，但一些后代通过一个氨基酸的变化恢复了它。我们的研究结果也强烈支持的假设，紫外线颜料有一个未质子化的席夫碱连接的发色团。
Despite the biological importance of UV vision, its molecular bases are not well understood. Here, we present evidence that UV vision in vertebrates is determined by eight specific amino acids in the UV pigments. Amino acid sequence analyses show that contemporary UV pigments inherited their UV sensitivities from the vertebrate ancestor by retaining most of these eight amino acids. In the avian lineage, the ancestral pigment lost UV sensitivity, but some descendants regained it by one amino acid change. Our results also strongly support the hypothesis that UV pigments have an unprotonated Schiff base-linked chromophore.