ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2008
The molecular basis of color vision in colorful fish: four long wave-sensitive (LWS) opsins in guppies (Poecilia reticulata) are defined by amino acid substitutions at key functional sites.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
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33 citing papers in PubMed, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Turning Red to Green Repeatedly: Ancestral LWS Duplications Drive Convergent Visual Tuning in Teleost Fishes.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Dynamic Expansions and Retinal Expression of Spectrally Distinct Short-Wavelength Opsin Genes in Sea Snakes.Genome biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Expansion and Functional Diversification of Long-Wavelength-Sensitive Opsin in Anabantoid Fishes.Journal of molecular evolution · 2024Article
- Article
- The evolutionary history and spectral tuning of vertebrate visual opsins.Developmental biology · 2023Review
- Correlated Expression of the Opsin Retrogene LWS-R and its Host Gene in Two Poeciliid Fishes.Zoological studies · 2022Article
- Visual pigment evolution in Characiformes: The dynamic interplay of teleost whole-genome duplication, surviving opsins and spectral tuning.Molecular ecology · 2020Article
- The round goby genome provides insights into mechanisms that may facilitate biological invasions.BMC biology · 2020Article
- Genetic and plastic variation in opsin gene expression, light sensitivity, and female response to visual signals in the guppy.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018Article
- Reviewing guppy color vision: integrating the molecular and physiological variation in visual tuning of a classic system for sensory drive.Current zoology · 2018Article
- The rises and falls of opsin genes in 59 ray-finned fish genomes and their implications for environmental adaptation.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Genomic Environment Impacts Color Vision Evolution in a Family with Visually Based Sexual Selection.Genome biology and evolution · 2017Article
- Convergent evolution of SWS2 opsin facilitates adaptive radiation of threespine stickleback into different light environments.PLoS biology · 2017Article
- Intraspecific geographic variation in rod and cone visual pigment sensitivity of a parrot, Platycercus elegans.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Exploring visual plasticity: dietary carotenoids can change color vision in guppies (Poecilia reticulata).Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2016Article
- Effects of light environment during growth on the expression of cone opsin genes and behavioral spectral sensitivities in guppies (Poecilia reticulata).BMC evolutionary biology · 2016Article
- A cure for the blues: opsin duplication and subfunctionalization for short-wavelength sensitivity in jewel beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae).BMC evolutionary biology · 2016Article
- Properties of the Visible Light Phototaxis and UV Avoidance Behaviors in the Larval Zebrafish.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2016Article
- The Genome of the Trinidadian Guppy, Poecilia reticulata, and Variation in the Guanapo Population.PloS one · 2016Article
- Developmental plasticity in vision and behavior may help guppies overcome increased turbidity.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundComparisons of functionally important changes at the molecular level in model systems have identified key adaptations driving isolation and speciation. In cichlids, for example, long wavelength-sensitive (LWS) opsins appear to play a role in mate choice and male color variation within and among species. To test the hypothesis that the evolution of elaborate coloration in male guppies (Poecilia reticulata) is also associated with opsin gene diversity, we sequenced long wavelength-sensitive (LWS) opsin genes in six species of the family Poeciliidae.
resultsSequences of four LWS opsin genes were amplified from the guppy genome and from mRNA isolated from adult guppy eyes. Variation in expression was quantified using qPCR. Three of the four genes encode opsins predicted to be most sensitive to different wavelengths of light because they vary at key amino acid positions. This family of LWS opsin genes was produced by a diversity of duplication events. One, an intronless gene, was produced prior to the divergence of families Fundulidae and Poeciliidae. Between-gene PCR and DNA sequencing show that two of the guppy LWS opsins are linked in an inverted orientation. This inverted tandem duplication event occurred near the base of the poeciliid tree in the common ancestor of Poecilia and Xiphophorus. The fourth sequence has been uncovered only in the genus Poecilia. In the guppies surveyed here, this sequence is a hybrid, with the 5' end most similar to one of the tandem duplicates and the 3' end identical to the other.
conclusionEnhanced wavelength discrimination, a possible consequence of opsin gene duplication and divergence, might have been an evolutionary prerequisite for color-based sexual selection and have led to the extraordinary coloration now observed in male guppies and in many other poeciliids.
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