Abstract
Differences in color vision can play a key role in an organism’s ability to perceive and interact with the environment across a broad range of taxa. Recently, species have been shown to vary in color vision across populations as a result of differences in regulatory sequence and/or plasticity of opsin gene expression. For decades, biologists have been intrigued by among-population variation in color-based mate preferences of female Trinidadian guppies. We proposed that some of this variation results from variation in color vision caused by plasticity in opsin expression. Specifically, we asked about the role of dietary carotenoid availability, because carotenoids (1) are the precursors for vitamin A, which is essential for the creation of photopigments and (2) have been linked to variation in female mate choice. We raised guppies on different carotenoid-level diets and measured opsin expression. Guppies raised on high-carotenoid diets expressed higher levels of long wavelength sensitive opsin (LWS) opsins than those raised on lower levels of carotenoids. These results suggest that dietary effects on opsin expression represent a previously unaccounted for mechanism by which ecological differences across populations could lead to mate choice differences.
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Abbreviations
- SWS1:
-
Short wavelength sensitive 1 opsin
- SWS2:
-
Short wavelength sensitive 2 opsin
- RH1:
-
Rhodopsin
- RH2:
-
Rhodopsin-like opsin
- LWS:
-
Long wavelength sensitive opsin
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Acknowledgments
Robert Machemer, Chris Anderson, Neil Losin, Adrea Gonzalez-Karlsson, Kathryn Peiman, and Cameron Weadick provided useful comments on the manuscript. Kim Hughes ran some of the early statistical analyses. Rob Olendorf ran the qRT-PCR reactions. We thank Roche Vitamins for donating carotenoids, Ocean Star International (OSI) for producing and donating the experimental diets, and Mark Lamon at OSI for assistance and advice. This investigation was supported by National Human Genome Research Institute (NIH) (T32-HG02536), R.L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (T32-GM008185), the National Science Foundation (IOB 0445127, IBN-013089), and the University of Illinois.
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All procedures performed involving animals were approved and in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of California, Los Angeles Animal Research Committee (protocol #1999-197-23).
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Sandkam, B.A., Deere-Machemer, K.A., Johnson, A.M. et al. Exploring visual plasticity: dietary carotenoids can change color vision in guppies (Poecilia reticulata). J Comp Physiol A 202, 527–534 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-016-1097-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-016-1097-9