ArticleGenome biology and evolution2016
The Last Common Ancestor of Most Bilaterian Animals Possessed at Least Nine Opsins.
Article in Genome biology and evolution, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 82 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
82 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 128 citations in OpenAlex.
- The expression of opsins in the human skin and its implications for photobiomodulation: A Systematic Review.Photodermatology, photoimmunology & photomedicine · 2020Pooled it
- A Pentaradial and Bilateral Combined Photoreception System in the Sea Cucumber is Mediated by a Blue Light-Sensitive R-Opsin.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Accessible and robust machine learning approaches to improve the opsin genotype-phenotype map.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Multiple opsin expression in cubozoan ocelli indicates functional redundancy.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The physiological functions of OPN5m.Eye and vision (London, England) · 2025Review
- Light-modulated stem cells in the camera-type eye of an annelid model for adult brain plasticity.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Non-visual photoreceptive brain specification in sea urchin larvae.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Single-nucleus profiling highlights the all-brain echinoderm nervous system.Science advances · 2025Article
- Discovery and design of photocyclic animal opsins: potential application to gene therapy from non-visual opsin research.Eye and vision (London, England) · 2025Review
- An Ocean of Opsins.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Shedding Light on Patterns of Unconventional Expression of Opsin Genes in Hydra vulgaris.Integrative and comparative biology · 2025Article
- A key spectral tuning site of UV-sensitive vertebrate non-visual opsin Opn5.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2025Article
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- Genomics Sheds New Light on the Ancestral Bilaterian Opsin Repertoire and Suggests Rhabdomeric Phototransduction in Xenacoelomorpha.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Roles of sensory receptors in non-sensory organs: the kidney and beyond.Nature reviews. Nephrology · 2025Review
- An Extensive Survey of Vertebrate-specific, Nonvisual Opsins Identifies a Novel Subfamily, Q113-Bistable Opsin.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Anatomy and transcriptomics of the common jingle shell (Bivalvia, Anomiidae) support a sensory function for bivalve tentacles.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- A chromosome-level genome assembly of the disco clam, Ctenoides ales.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2024Article
- Secondary not subordinate: Opsin localization suggests possibility for color sensitivity in salticid secondary eyes.Vision research · 2024Article
22 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The opsin gene family encodes key proteins animals use to sense light and has expanded dramatically as it originated early in animal evolution. Understanding the origins of opsin diversity can offer clues to how separate lineages of animals have repurposed different opsin paralogs for different light-detecting functions. However, the more we look for opsins outside of eyes and from additional animal phyla, the more opsins we uncover, suggesting we still do not know the true extent of opsin diversity, nor the ancestry of opsin diversity in animals. To estimate the number of opsin paralogs present in both the last common ancestor of the Nephrozoa (bilaterians excluding Xenoacoelomorpha), and the ancestor of Cnidaria + Bilateria, we reconstructed a reconciled opsin phylogeny using sequences from 14 animal phyla, especially the traditionally poorly-sampled echinoderms and molluscs. Our analysis strongly supports a repertoire of at least nine opsin paralogs in the bilaterian ancestor and at least four opsin paralogs in the last common ancestor of Cnidaria + Bilateria. Thus, the kernels of extant opsin diversity arose much earlier in animal history than previously known. Further, opsins likely duplicated and were lost many times, with different lineages of animals maintaining different repertoires of opsin paralogs. This phylogenetic information can inform hypotheses about the functions of different opsin paralogs and can be used to understand how and when opsins were incorporated into complex traits like eyes and extraocular sensors.
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