ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2015
Spectral shifts of mammalian ultraviolet-sensitive pigments (short wavelength-sensitive opsin 1) are associated with eye length and photic niche evolution.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Unraveling phylogenetic conflicts and adaptive evolution in Chiroptera using large-scale mitogenomes and nuclear genes.Science China. Life sciences · 2025Article
- A new critical site for spectral tuning of red/green-sensitive visual pigment identified in a murid rodent.Current zoology · 2025Article
- Genomic and phenotypic evidence support visual and olfactory shifts in primate evolution.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- Eye features and retinal photoreceptors of the nocturnal aardvark (Orycteropus afer, Tubulidentata).PloS one · 2025Article
- Parallel Spectral Tuning of a Cone Visual Pigment Provides Evidence for Ancient Deep-Sea Adaptations in Cetaceans.Genome biology and evolution · 2024Article
- A test of the species confidence hypothesis in dusky damselfish.Current zoology · 2024Article
- Improved mammalian family phylogeny using gap-rare multiple sequence alignment: A timetree of extant placentals and marsupials.Zoological research · 2023Article
- Convergent evolutionary shifts in rhodopsin retinal release explain shared opsin repertoires in monotremes and crocodilians.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Diversified Mammalian Visuasl Adaptations to Bright- or Dim-Light Environments.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- Identification of runs of homozygosity in Western honey bees (Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Article
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- Genomic evidence for the parallel regression of melatonin synthesis and signaling pathways in placental mammals.Open research Europe · 2021Article
- Article
- Spectral sensitivity of cone vision in the diurnal muridThe Journal of experimental biology · 2020Article
- Convergent spectral shifts to blue-green vision in mammals extends the known sensitivity of vertebrate M/LWS pigments.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- Trehalase Gene as a Molecular Signature of Dietary Diversification in Mammals.Molecular biology and evolution · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Retinal opsin photopigments initiate mammalian vision when stimulated by light. Most mammals possess a short wavelength-sensitive opsin 1 (SWS1) pigment that is primarily sensitive to either ultraviolet or violet light, leading to variation in colour perception across species. Despite knowledge of both ultraviolet- and violet-sensitive SWS1 classes in mammals for 25 years, the adaptive significance of this variation has not been subjected to hypothesis testing, resulting in minimal understanding of the basis for mammalian SWS1 spectral tuning evolution. Here, we gathered data on SWS1 for 403 mammal species, including novel SWS1 sequences for 97 species. Ancestral sequence reconstructions suggest that the most recent common ancestor of Theria possessed an ultraviolet SWS1 pigment, and that violet-sensitive pigments evolved at least 12 times in mammalian history. We also observed that ultraviolet pigments, previously considered to be a rarity, are common in mammals. We then used phylogenetic comparative methods to test the hypotheses that the evolution of violet-sensitive SWS1 is associated with increased light exposure, extended longevity and longer eye length. We discovered that diurnal mammals and species with longer eyes are more likely to have violet-sensitive pigments and less likely to possess UV-sensitive pigments. We hypothesize that (i) as mammals evolved larger body sizes, they evolved longer eyes, which limited transmittance of ultraviolet light to the retina due to an increase in Rayleigh scattering, and (ii) as mammals began to invade diurnal temporal niches, they evolved lenses with low UV transmittance to reduce chromatic aberration and/or photo-oxidative damage.
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