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MBE Advance Access published online on June 7, 2007
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msm109
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Research Article

The Molecular Evolution of Avian Ultraviolet- and Violet-Sensitive Visual Pigments

Livia S. Carvalho, Jill A. Cowing, Susan E. Wilkie, James K. Bowmaker and David M. Hunt*

UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, 11-43 Bath Street, London, EC1V 9EL, UK

* Corresponding author Professor D M Hunt, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, 11-43 Bath Street, London, EC1V 9EL, UK, Tel 44 20 7608 6820, Fax 44 20 7608 6863, Email d.hunt{at}ucl.ac.uk

Received for publication December 27, 2006. Revision received May 4, 2007. Accepted for publication May 21, 2007.

The shortwave-sensitive SWS1 class of vertebrate visual pigments range in {lambda}max from the violet (385-445nm) to the UV (365-355nm), with UV-sensitivity almost certainly ancestral. In birds however, the UV-sensitive pigments present in a number of species have evolved secondarily from an avian violet-sensitive (VS) pigment. All avian VS pigments expressed in vitro to date encode Ser86 whereas Phe86 is present in all non-avian UVS pigments. In this paper, we show by site directed mutagenesis of avian VS pigments that Ser86 is required in an avian VS pigment to maintain violet-sensitivity and therefore underlies the evolution of avian VS pigments. The major mechanism for the evolution of avian UVS pigments from an ancestral avian VS pigment is undoubtedly a Ser90Cys substitution. However, Phe86, as found in the Blue-crowned trogon, will also short-wave shift the pigeon VS pigment into the UV whereas Ala86 and Cys86 which are also found in natural avian pigments do not generate short-wave shifts when substituted into the pigeon pigment. From available data on avian SWS1 pigments, it would appear that UVS pigments have evolved on at least five separate occasions and utilize two different mechanisms for the short-wave shift.

Key Words: visual pigments • ultraviolet • spectral tuning • birds • vision


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