Opsin coexpression: Regulation and Function

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Vision is critical to the survival of many animals, both vertebrates and invertebrates. This project focuses on the functions of photoreceptors, the cells in eyes that detect light, and on visual pigments, the proteins in photoreceptors that first respond to light. The levels and types of visual pigments in photoreceptors largely determine what animals see. The PI recently demonstrated that more than one type of visual pigment can be expressed in an individual photoreceptor. This project tests the novel idea that the relative levels of visual pigments co-expressed in photoreceptors change in response to light and darkness and signals from the animal's internal 24 hr clock (circadian clock). The project makes use of photoreceptors in the horseshoe crab, an ancient arthropod that has remained mostly unchanged since before the time of the dinosaurs and whose photoreceptors continue to provide fundamental information about basic mechanisms of vision. The project applies genetic, molecular and cell biological approaches to determine how levels of visual pigments in photoreceptors are regulated under different conditions of light and darkness and time of day, and biochemical and electrophysiologial approaches to characterize the spectral sensitivities of the visual pigments and the photoreceptors in which they are expressed. This project will likely reveal previously unknown processes that many animals may use to optimize their vision under different conditions of light and darkness and time of day, and which are critical for their survival. Furthermore, this project will provide research training in cell and molecular biology and neurobiology to undergraduate and high school students drawn largely from underrepresented groups. The PI also has developed and will continue to oversee a large multi-generational public outreach program that trains volunteer, adult non-scientists to guide the science learning of over 5000 local K-8 students each year in animal diversity and the process of scientific investigation.