ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2012
Opsin evolution and expression in arthropod compound eyes and ocelli: insights from the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers.
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38 citing papers in PubMed, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- The visual system of a nocturnal long-distance migrant, the Australian Bogong moth.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Article
- Spectral Tuning in Mammalian Melanopsins.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Deep conservation complemented by novelty and innovation in the insect eye ground plan.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Secondary not subordinate: Opsin localization suggests possibility for color sensitivity in salticid secondary eyes.Vision research · 2024Article
- Crickets in the spotlight: exploring the impact of light on circadian behavior.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2024Review
- Molecular Evolution of Malacostracan Short Wavelength Sensitive Opsins.Journal of molecular evolution · 2023Article
- The diversity of invertebrate visual opsins spanning Protostomia, Deuterostomia, and Cnidaria.Developmental biology · 2022Review
- Insect opsins and evo-devo: what have we learned in 25 years?Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Review
- Colour vision in thrips (Thysanoptera).Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Review
- The evolution of insect visual opsin genes with specific consideration of the influence of ocelli and life history traits.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Evidence for UV-green dichromacy in the basal hymenopteran Sirex noctilio (Siricidae).Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Homothorax controls a binary Rhodopsin switch in Drosophila ocelli.PLoS genetics · 2021Article
- The evolution of opsin genes in five species of mirid bugs: duplication of long-wavelength opsins and loss of blue-sensitive opsins.BMC ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Electrophysiological adaptations of insect photoreceptors and their elementary responses to diurnal and nocturnal lifestyles.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2020Article
- Heading choices of flying Drosophila under changing angles of polarized light.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Ocellar structure of African and Australian desert ants.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2019Article
- Evolution of Phototransduction Genes in Lepidoptera.Genome biology and evolution · 2019Article
- Changes in electrophysiological properties of photoreceptors in Periplaneta americana associated with the loss of screening pigment.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2018Article
- Hypothesis on monochromatic vision in scorpionflies questioned by new transcriptomic data.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Diversity and common themes in the organization of ocelli in Hymenoptera, Odonata and Diptera.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2018Article
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5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOpsins are key proteins in animal photoreception. Together with a light-sensitive group, the chromophore, they form visual pigments which initiate the visual transduction cascade when photoactivated. The spectral absorption properties of visual pigments are mainly determined by their opsins, and thus opsins are crucial for understanding the adaptations of animal eyes. Studies on the phylogeny and expression pattern of opsins have received considerable attention, but our knowledge about insect visual opsins is still limited. Up to now, researchers have focused on holometabolous insects, while general conclusions require sampling from a broader range of taxa. We have therefore investigated visual opsins in the ocelli and compound eyes of the two-spotted cricket Gryllus bimaculatus, a hemimetabolous insect.
resultsPhylogenetic analyses place all identified cricket sequences within the three main visual opsin clades of insects. We assign three of these opsins to visual pigments found in the compound eyes with peak absorbances in the green (515 nm), blue (445 nm) and UV (332 nm) spectral range. Their expression pattern divides the retina into distinct regions: (1) the polarization-sensitive dorsal rim area with blue- and UV-opsin, (2) a newly-discovered ventral band of ommatidia with blue- and green-opsin and (3) the remainder of the compound eye with UV- and green-opsin. In addition, we provide evidence for two ocellar photopigments with peak absorbances in the green (511 nm) and UV (350 nm) spectral range, and with opsins that differ from those expressed in the compound eyes.
conclusionsOur data show that cricket eyes are spectrally more specialized than has previously been assumed, suggesting that similar adaptations in other insect species might have been overlooked. The arrangement of spectral receptor types within some ommatidia of the cricket compound eyes differs from the generally accepted pattern found in holometabolous insect taxa and awaits a functional explanation. From the opsin phylogeny, we conclude that gene duplications, which permitted differential opsin expression in insect ocelli and compound eyes, occurred independently in several insect lineages and are recent compared to the origin of the eyes themselves.
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