Article
Opsin clines in butterflies suggest novel roles for insect photopigments.
Molecular biology and evolution - 1 Feb 2015
Frentiu Francesca D, Yuan Furong, Savage Wesley K, Bernard Gary D, Mullen Sean P, Briscoe Adriana D
Abstract excerpt
Opsins are ancient molecules that enable animal vision by coupling to a vitamin-derived chromophore to form light-sensitive photopigments. The primary drivers of evolutionary diversification in opsins are thought to be visual tasks related to spectral sensitivity and color vision. Typically, only a few opsin amino acid sites affect photopigment spectral sensitivity. We show that opsin genes of the North American...
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