Light falling onto the eyes of insects carries information not only on the shape and color of surrounding objects, but also the overall illumination level, regulating the daily and seasonal rhythms of physiological functions. Illumination of American cockroaches with bright light during the nocturnal phase of the daily cycle leads to a masking effect, whose most notable manifestation consists of periods of complete immobility, i.e., freezing. Suppression of the expression of ultraviolet-sensitive visual pigment in cockroaches by RNA interference significantly decreased the masking effect, leading to a reduction in freezing duration. Behavioral changes were small due to a small residual quantity of ultraviolet-sensitive opsin.
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Translated from Sensornye Sistemy, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 22–29, January–March, 2021.
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Novikova, E.S., Severina, I.Y., Isavnina, I.L. et al. Down-Regulation of the Ultraviolet-Sensitive Visual Pigment of the Cockroach Decreases the Masking Effect in Short-Wavelength Illumination. Neurosci Behav Physi 51, 1002–1007 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-021-01158-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-021-01158-3