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Molecular Aspects of Evolution and Diversity of Animal Photoreception

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Evolution and Senses

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Biology ((BRIEFSBIOL))

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Abstract

Animals utilize light from the environment as various information sources for functions such as vision, photoentrainment of circadian and circannual rhythms, photoperiodism and environmental body color changes. For these purposes, animals have various photoreceptor cells having highly diversified G protein-­coupled receptors (GPCRs) called opsins. Opsins contain seven transmembrane a-helical domains, the structural motif typical of the GPCRs, and intrinsic ligand retinal as a light-absorbing chromophore. Most opsins contain 11-cis retinal as their chromophores, and light causes a conformational change of the protein moiety through cis–trans isomerization of the chromophore, which leads to the activation of a G protein-mediated signal transduction cascade in the photoreceptor cells. The most extensively studied opsins are the visual pigments present in photoreceptor cells of vertebrate and invertebrate retinas. Here, we review the visual transduction process in vertebrate and invertebrate photoreceptor cells, and the functional diversity of opsins and phototransduction systems in various photoreceptor cells. In addition, the molecular mechanisms underlying the evolution and diversity of opsins are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. E. Nakajima for critical reading of our manuscript and English correction. This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research and the Global Center of Excellence Program “Formation of a Strategic Base for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Research: from Genome to Ecosystem” of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan

    Yoshinori Shichida & Takahiro Yamashita

  2. Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan

    Hiroo Imai

  3. Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan

    Takushi Kishida

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Shichida, Y., Yamashita, T., Imai, H., Kishida, T. (2013). Molecular Aspects of Evolution and Diversity of Animal Photoreception. In: Evolution and Senses. SpringerBriefs in Biology. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54222-3_1

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