Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 14, 611-618, Copyright © 1997 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
M Nei, J Zhang and S Yokoyama
The color vision of mammals is controlled by photosensitive proteins called
opsins. Most mammals have dichromatic color vision, but hominoids and Old
World (OW) monkeys enjoy trichromatic vision, having the blue-, green-, and
red-sensitive opsin genes. Most New World (NW) monkeys are either
dichromatic or trichromatic, depending on the sex and genotype. Trichromacy
in higher primates is believed to have evolved to facilitate the detection
of yellow and red fruits against dappled foliage, but the process of
evolutionary change from dichromacy to trichromacy is not well understood.
Using the parsimony and the newly developed Bayesian methods, we inferred
the amino acid sequences of opsins of ancestral organisms of higher
primates. The results suggest that the ancestors of OW and NW monkeys
lacked the green gene and that the green gene later evolved from the red
gene. The fact that the red/green opsin gene has survived the long
nocturnal stage of mammalian evolution and that it is under strong
purifying selection in organisms that live in dark environments suggests
that this gene has another important function in addition to color vision,
probably the control of circadian rhythms.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Color vision of ancestral organisms of higher primates
Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802, USA. nxm2@psu.edu
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