Evolution of Butterfly Color Vision

蝴蝶的色觉取决于视网膜内不同感光神经元的存在，这些神经元对不同颜色的光敏感。就像在许多脊椎动物和无脊椎动物物种中一样，这是由于不同类型的光感受器细胞中不同形式的光敏感视觉色素视紫红质的高度调控表达所致。在进化过程中，基因复制事件在不同物种中产生了多种形式的视紫红质。视紫红质研究人员将研究这种进化过程和不同形式视紫红质的起源。PI将检测老虎燕尾蝴蝶(Papilio Glaucus)以及更远缘物种的视紫红质。PI将测量不同蝴蝶视紫红质吸收的光的颜色，并确定视网膜内哪些特定的光感受器细胞表达每种形式的视紫红质。PI还将比较这些视紫红质和其他视紫红质的氨基酸和核苷酸序列，以确定吸收相同波长光的视紫红质可能是从共同的祖先基因进化而来，还是可能是独立进化的。这些研究将阐明颜色视觉建立的进化机制，并有助于了解昆虫视觉系统的基础知识。

Color vision in butterflies is dependent upon the presence of different photoreceptor neurons within the retina, which are sensitive to different colors of light. Just as in many vertebrate and invertebrate species, this results from the highly regulated expression of different forms of the light sensitive visual pigment rhodopsin, in different types of photoreceptor cells. During evolution, gene duplication events have produced numerous forms of rhodopsin in different species. The PIs will study this evolutionary process and the origin of the different forms of rhodopsin. The PIs will examine the rhodopsins of the Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) as well as those of more distantly related species. The PIs will measure the colors of light absorbed by the different butterfly rhodopsins and determine which specific photoreceptor cells within the retina express each form of rhodopsin. The PIs will also compare the amino acid and nucleotide sequences of these and other rhodopsins to determine whether the rhodopsins absorbing the same wavelengths of light are likely to have evolved from a common ancestral gene or if they may have evolved independently. These studies will clarify the evolutionary mechanisms by which color vision was established, and contribute to the basic knowledge of the visual system of insects.