Skip Navigation



MBE Advance Access published online on December 5, 2003
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msh015
Molecular Biology and Evolution © Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2003; all rights reserved
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
21/2/295    most recent
msh015v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wang, D.
Right arrow Articles by Li, W.-H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wang, D.
Right arrow Articles by Li, W.-H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Accepted September 12, 2003
© 2003 Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution

Original Articles

Molecular Evolution of Bat Color Vision Genes

Daryi Wang 1, Todd Oakley 2, Jeffrey Mower 3, Lawrence C. Shimmin 3, Sokchea Yim 3, Rodney L. Honeycutt 4, Hsienshao Tsao 5, and Wen-Hsiung Li 2*

1 Institute of Zoology, Academic Sinica, Taipei, 115 Taiwan; Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, 1101 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
2 Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, 1101 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
3 Human Genetics Center, University of Texas Houston Health Science Center, Houston
4 Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
5 Taipei Zoo, Taipei, Taiwan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: whli{at}uchicago.edu.


  Abstract

The two suborders of bats, Megachiroptera (megabats) and Microchiroptera (microbats), utilize different sensory modalities for perceiving their environment. Megabats are crepuscular and rely on a well-developed eye and visual pathway, whereas microbats occupy a nocturnal niche and utilize acoustic orientation or echolocation more than vision as the major means of perceiving their environment. In view of the differences associated with their sensory systems, we decided to investigate the function and evolution of color vision (opsin genes) in these two suborders of bats. The middle/long wavelength (M/L) and short wavelength (S) opsin genes were sequenced from two frugivorous species of megabats, Haplonycteris fischeri and Pteropus dasymallus formosus, and one insectivorous species of microbat, Myotis velifer. Contrary to the situation in primates, where many nocturnal species have lost the functional S opsin gene, both crepuscular and strictly nocturnal species of bats that we examined have functional M/L and S opsin genes. Surprisingly, the S opsin in these bats may be sensitive to UV light, which is relatively more abundant at dawn and dusk. The M/L opsin in these bats appears to be the L type, which is sensitive to red and may be helpful for identifying fruits among leaves or for other purposes. Most interestingly, H. fischeri has a recent duplication of the M/L opsin gene, representing to date the only known case of opsin gene duplication in non-primate mammals. Some of these observations are unexpected and may provide insights into the effect of nocturnal life on the evolution of opsin genes in mammals and the evolution of the life history traits of bats in general.

Key Words: bats, opsin genes, color vision, nocturnal life, opsin duplication


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Integr. Comp. Biol.Home page
C. M. Hofmann and K. L. Carleton
Gene duplication and differential gene expression play an important role in the diversification of visual pigments in fish
Integr. Comp. Biol., December 1, 2009; 49(6): 630 - 643.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Phil Trans R Soc BHome page
D. M. Hunt, L. S. Carvalho, J. A. Cowing, and W. L. Davies
Evolution and spectral tuning of visual pigments in birds and mammals
Phil Trans R Soc B, October 12, 2009; 364(1531): 2941 - 2955.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Phil Trans R Soc BHome page
G. H. Jacobs
Evolution of colour vision in mammals
Phil Trans R Soc B, October 12, 2009; 364(1531): 2957 - 2967.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
H. Zhao, S. J. Rossiter, E. C. Teeling, C. Li, J. A. Cotton, and S. Zhang
The evolution of color vision in nocturnal mammals
PNAS, June 2, 2009; 106(22): 8980 - 8985.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
G. H. Perry, R. D. Martin, and B. C. Verrelli
Signatures of Functional Constraint at Aye-aye Opsin Genes: The Potential of Adaptive Color Vision in a Nocturnal Primate
Mol. Biol. Evol., September 1, 2007; 24(9): 1963 - 1970.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc R Soc BHome page
D Osorio and M Vorobyev
Photoreceptor sectral sensitivities in terrestrial animals: adaptations for luminance and colour vision
Proc R Soc B, September 7, 2005; 272(1574): 1745 - 1752.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.