Spectral sensitivity of cone vision in the diurnal murid Rhabdomys pumilio [RESEARCH ARTICLE]

Annette E. Allen, Joshua W. Mouland, Jessica Rodgers, Beatriz Bano-Otalora, Ronald H. Douglas, Glen Jeffery, Anthony A. Vugler, Timothy M. Brown, and Robert J. Lucas
An animal's temporal niche – the time of day at which it is active – is known to drive a variety of adaptations in the visual system. These include variations in the topography, spectral sensitivity and density of retinal photoreceptors, and changes in the eye's gross anatomy and spectral transmission characteristics. We have characterised visual spectral sensitivity in the murid rodent Rhabdomys pumilio (the four-striped grass mouse), which is in the same family as (nocturnal) mice and rats but exhibits a strong diurnal niche. As is common in diurnal species, the R. pumilio lens acts as a long-pass spectral filter, providing limited transmission of light <400 nm. Conversely, we found strong sequence homologies with the R. pumilio SWS and MWS opsins and those of related nocturnal species (mice and rats) whose SWS opsins are maximally sensitive in the near-UV. We continued to assess in vivo spectral sensitivity of cone vision using electroretinography and multi-channel recordings from the visual thalamus. These revealed that responses across the human visible range could be adequately described by those of a single pigment (assumed to be MWS opsin) maximally sensitive at ~500 nm, but that sensitivity in the near-UV required inclusion of a second pigment whose peak sensitivity lay well int...

Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - May 28, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: Allen, A. E., Mouland, J. W., Rodgers, J., Bano-Otalora, B., Douglas, R. H., Jeffery, G., Vugler, A. A., Brown, T. M., Lucas, R. J. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research