Licht-im-Terrarium: Literaturdatenbank
Licht-im-Terrarium: Literaturdatenbank |
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Zhang, J. (2003). Paleomolecular biology unravels the evolutionary mystery of vertebrate uv vision. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100(14), 8045–8047. Added by: Sarina (2009-01-15 16:52:48) |
| Resource type: Journal Article DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1533183100 BibTeX citation key: Zhang2003 View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: Englisch = English Keywords: Farbsehen = Color Vision, Sehvermögen = Visual Perception, Ultraviolett = Ultraviolet Creators: Zhang Collection: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
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| Abstract |
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The molecular analysis would be fragmented without the rich information on the ecology of UV vision. From the detection of a changing traffic light to the relaxing sight of Vincent van Gogh's ”Sunflower,” color vision plays an important role in our lives. But, to the eyes of a hummingbird or goldfish, we humans are partially color-blind, as they can see what is known as UV, to which we are simply blind. How did we lose this sensitivity, or, alternatively, how did they acquire it? In this issue of PNAS, Shi and Yokoyama (1) use techniques of paleomolecular biology to unravel the mystery of the evolution of UV vision in vertebrates. Vision starts when visual pigments are activated by the absorption of photons. A visual pigment is composed of a protein called opsin and a chromophore. The light sensitivity of a visual pigment is determined by the interaction between opsin and chromophore and is tuned to a particular wavelength of maximum absorption called λmax. Humans have four different visual pigments with the respective λmax being 414, 497, 530, and 560 nm. Thus, lights in the spectrum of ≈400–700 nm are visible, whereas those <400 nm (UV) or >700 nm (IR) are invisible to us (Fig. 1A). Added by: Sarina |