Opsin coexpression: Regulation and Function

视觉对许多动物的生存至关重要，无论是脊椎动物还是无脊椎动物。该项目重点研究光感受器的功能，即眼睛中探测光的细胞，以及视觉色素，即光感受器中首先对光做出反应的蛋白质。光感受器中视觉色素的水平和类型在很大程度上决定了动物看到的东西。PI最近证明，在一个单独的光感受器中可以表达多种类型的视觉色素。这个项目测试了一个新的想法，即在光感受器中共同表达的视觉色素的相对水平会随着光和黑暗的反应以及来自动物体内24小时时钟(生物钟)的信号而变化。该项目利用了马蹄蟹的光感受器。马蹄蟹是一种古老的节肢动物，自恐龙时代以来基本保持不变，其光感受器继续提供有关基本视觉机制的基本信息。该项目使用遗传、分子和细胞生物学方法来确定在不同的光暗条件和一天中的时间如何调节光感受器中视觉色素的水平，并利用生物化学和电生理学方法来表征视觉色素及其表达的光感受器的光谱敏感性。这个项目可能会揭示以前未知的过程，许多动物可能会在不同的光暗条件下和一天中的不同时间使用这些过程来优化它们的视力，这些过程对它们的生存至关重要。此外，该项目将为主要来自代表性不足群体的本科生和高中生提供细胞和分子生物学以及神经生物学方面的研究培训。国际动物保护协会还制定并将继续监督一项大型的跨世代公众推广计划，培训志愿者、成年非科学家，以指导每年超过5000名当地K-8学生在动物多样性和科学调查过程中的科学学习。

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.