ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2022
Multiple Mechanisms of Photoreceptor Spectral Tuning in Heliconius Butterflies.
Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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20 citing papers in PubMed, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evolution of compound eye cell types shapes visual behaviors acrossbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Sex-limited diversification of the eye in Heliconius cydno butterflies.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Article
- Cellular innovations and diversity in the lepidopteran compound eye.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Review
- Graded opsin co-expression along the butterfly retina fine tunes the spectral sensitivity of a colour-opponent cell across the visual field.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Article
- Arthropod Pax Gene Evolution: A Role for Vanessa Cardui Twin of Eyeless in Eye Development.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Genetic, developmental, and neural changes underlying the evolution of butterfly mate preference.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Trichromacy is insufficient for mate detection in a mimetic butterfly.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Vision guides the twilight search for oviposition sites of the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Article
- Selection drives divergence of eye morphology in sympatric Heliconius butterflies.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2024Article
- Butterfly blues and greens caused by subtractive colour mixing of carotenoids and bile pigments.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2024Article
- Adaptive introgression of a visual preference gene.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Functional characterization of four opsins and two G alpha subtypes co-expressed in the molluscan rhabdomeric photoreceptor.BMC biology · 2023Article
- Quantifying visual acuity inBiology letters · 2023Article
- Opsin Gene Duplication in Lepidoptera: Retrotransposition, Sex Linkage, and Gene Expression.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- Article
- Sex-linked gene traffic underlies the acquisition of sexually dimorphic UV color vision inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Oviposition behavior is not affected by ultraviolet light in a butterfly with sexually-dimorphic expression of a UV-sensitive opsin.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Parallel evolution of opsin visual pigments in hawkmoths by tuning of spectral sensitivities during transition from a nocturnal to a diurnal ecology.The Journal of experimental biology · 2022Article
- Red-green opponency in the long visual fibre photoreceptors of brushfoot butterflies (Nymphalidae).Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The evolution of color vision is often studied through the lens of receptor gain relative to an ancestor with fewer spectral classes of photoreceptor. For instance, in Heliconius butterflies, a genus-specific UVRh opsin duplication led to the evolution of UV color discrimination in Heliconius erato females, a rare trait among butterflies. However, color vision evolution is not well understood in the context of loss. In Heliconius melpomene and Heliconius ismenius lineages, the UV2 receptor subtype has been lost, which limits female color vision in shorter wavelengths. Here, we compare the visual systems of butterflies that have either retained or lost the UV2 photoreceptor using intracellular recordings, ATAC-seq, and antibody staining. We identify several ways these butterflies modulate their color vision. In H. melpomene, chromatin reorganization has downregulated an otherwise intact UVRh2 gene, whereas in H. ismenius, pseudogenization has led to the truncation of UVRh2. In species that lack the UV2 receptor, the peak sensitivity of the remaining UV1 photoreceptor cell is shifted to longer wavelengths. Across Heliconius, we identify the widespread use of filtering pigments and co-expression of two opsins in the same photoreceptor cells. Multiple mechanisms of spectral tuning, including the molecular evolution of blue opsins, have led to the divergence of receptor sensitivities between species. The diversity of photoreceptor and ommatidial subtypes between species suggests that Heliconius visual systems are under varying selection pressures for color discrimination. Modulating the wavelengths of peak sensitivities of both the blue- and remaining UV-sensitive photoreceptor cells suggests that Heliconius species may have compensated for UV receptor loss.
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