Y‐chromosomal red‐green opsin genes of nocturnal New World monkey1

FEBS Letters

Takenaka, Osamu²  Takenaka, Naomi¹  Hiramatsu, Chihiro¹  Kawamura, Shoji¹  Hirai, Momoki¹ 

[1] Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8562, Japan;Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan

关键词: Visual pigment;    Opsin;    Nocturnal vision;    Owl monkey (Aotus trivirgatus);   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(02)03414-2

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

The X-chromosomal locality of the red-green-sensitive opsin genes has been the norm for all mammals and is essential for color vision of higher primates. Owl monkeys (Aotus), a genus of New World monkeys, are the only nocturnal higher primates and are severely color-blind. We demonstrate that the owl monkeys possess extra red-green opsin genes on the Y-chromosome. The Y-linked opsin genes were found to be extremely varied, in one male appearing to be a functional gene and in other males to be multicopy pseudogenes. These Y-linked opsin genes should offer a rare opportunity to study the evolutionary fate of genes translocated to the Y chromosome.

【 授权许可】

Unknown