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Waalkes MR, Leathery M, Peck M, Barr A, Cunill A, Hageter J, Horstick EJ. Light wavelength modulates search behavior performance in zebrafish. Sci Rep 2024; 14:16533. [PMID: 39019915 PMCID: PMC11255219 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67262-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2024] [Accepted: 07/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Visual systems have evolved to discriminate between different wavelengths of light. The ability to perceive color, or specific light wavelengths, is important as color conveys crucial information about both biotic and abiotic features in the environment. Indeed, different wavelengths of light can drive distinct patterns of activity in the vertebrate brain, yet what remains incompletely understood is whether distinct wavelengths can invoke etiologically relevant behavioral changes. To address how specific wavelengths in the visible spectrum modulate behavioral performance, we use larval zebrafish and a stereotypic light-search behavior. Prior work has shown that the cessation of light triggers a transitional light-search behavior, which we use to interrogate wavelength-dependent behavioral modulation. Using 8 narrow spectrum light sources in the visible range, we demonstrate that all wavelengths induce motor parameters consistent with search behavior, yet the magnitude of search behavior is spectrum sensitive and the underlying motor parameters are modulated in distinct patterns across short, medium, and long wavelengths. However, our data also establishes that not all motor features of search are impacted by wavelength. To define how wavelength modulates search performance, we performed additional assays with alternative wavelengths, dual wavelengths, and variable intensity. Last, we also tested blind larvae to resolve which components of wavelength dependent behavioral changes potentially include signaling from non-retinal photoreception. These findings have important implications as organisms can be exposed to varying wavelengths in laboratory and natural settings and therefore impose unique behavioral outputs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew R Waalkes
- Department of Biology Morgantown, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | - Maegan Leathery
- Department of Biology Morgantown, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | - Madeline Peck
- Department of Biology Morgantown, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | - Allison Barr
- Department of Biology Morgantown, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | - Alexander Cunill
- Department of Biology Morgantown, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | - John Hageter
- Department of Biology Morgantown, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | - Eric J Horstick
- Department of Biology Morgantown, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience Morgantown, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
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Boyette JL, Bell RC, Fujita MK, Thomas KN, Streicher JW, Gower DJ, Schott RK. Diversity and Molecular Evolution of Nonvisual Opsin Genes across Environmental, Developmental, and Morphological Adaptations in Frogs. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae090. [PMID: 38736374 PMCID: PMC11181710 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2023] [Revised: 05/03/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Nonvisual opsins are transmembrane proteins expressed in the eyes and other tissues of many animals. When paired with a light-sensitive chromophore, nonvisual opsins form photopigments involved in various nonvisual, light-detection functions including circadian rhythm regulation, light-seeking behaviors, and seasonal responses. Here, we investigate the molecular evolution of nonvisual opsin genes in anuran amphibians (frogs and toads). We test several evolutionary hypotheses including the predicted loss of nonvisual opsins due to nocturnal ancestry and potential functional differences in nonvisual opsins resulting from environmental light variation across diverse anuran ecologies. Using whole-eye transcriptomes of 81 species, combined with genomes, multitissue transcriptomes, and independently annotated genes from an additional 21 species, we identify which nonvisual opsins are present in anuran genomes and those that are also expressed in the eyes, compare selective constraint among genes, and test for potential adaptive evolution by comparing selection between discrete ecological classes. At the genomic level, we recovered all 18 ancestral vertebrate nonvisual opsins, indicating that anurans demonstrate the lowest documented amount of opsin gene loss among ancestrally nocturnal tetrapods. We consistently found expression of 14 nonvisual opsins in anuran eyes and detected positive selection in a subset of these genes. We also found shifts in selective constraint acting on nonvisual opsins in frogs with differing activity periods, habitats, distributions, life histories, and pupil shapes, which may reflect functional adaptation. Although many nonvisual opsins remain poorly understood, these findings provide insight into the diversity and evolution of these genes across anurans, filling an important gap in our understanding of vertebrate opsins and setting the stage for future research on their functional evolution across taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- John L Boyette
- Department of Biological Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA
- Department of Biology, Berry College, Rome, GA, USA
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA
- Department of Herpetology, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Rayna C Bell
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA
- Department of Herpetology, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Matthew K Fujita
- Department of Biology, Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA
| | - Kate N Thomas
- Department of Biology, Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA
- Natural History Museum, London, UK
| | | | | | - Ryan K Schott
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA
- Department of Biology & Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Mat A, Vu HH, Wolf E, Tessmar-Raible K. All Light, Everywhere? Photoreceptors at Nonconventional Sites. Physiology (Bethesda) 2024; 39:0. [PMID: 37905983 PMCID: PMC11283901 DOI: 10.1152/physiol.00017.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Revised: 10/29/2023] [Accepted: 10/29/2023] [Indexed: 11/02/2023] Open
Abstract
One of the biggest environmental alterations we have made to our species is the change in the exposure to light. During the day, we typically sit behind glass windows illuminated by artificial light that is >400 times dimmer and has a very different spectrum than natural daylight. On the opposite end are the nights that are now lit up by several orders of magnitude. This review aims to provide food for thought as to why this matters for humans and other animals. Evidence from behavioral neuroscience, physiology, chronobiology, and molecular biology is increasingly converging on the conclusions that the biological nonvisual functions of light and photosensory molecules are highly complex. The initial work of von Frisch on extraocular photoreceptors in fish, the identification of rhodopsins as the molecular light receptors in animal eyes and eye-like structures and cryptochromes as light sensors in nonmammalian chronobiology, still allowed for the impression that light reception would be a relatively restricted, localized sense in most animals. However, light-sensitive processes and/or sensory proteins have now been localized to many different cell types and tissues. It might be necessary to consider nonlight-responding cells as the exception, rather than the rule.
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Affiliation(s)
- Audrey Mat
- Max Perutz Labs, University of Vienna, Vienna BioCenter, Vienna, Austria
- VIPS2, Vienna BioCenter, Vienna, Austria
| | - Hong Ha Vu
- Institute of Molecular Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Eva Wolf
- Institute of Molecular Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany
| | - Kristin Tessmar-Raible
- Max Perutz Labs, University of Vienna, Vienna BioCenter, Vienna, Austria
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
- Carl-von-Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany
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