S23
Evolutionary Biochemistry and Physiology of Photoreception
in Animals
Organizers:
Kentaro Arikawa (Sokendai-Hayama, Japan)
Akihisa Terakita (Osaka City Univ., Japan)
Structure and function of photoreceptors are diverse due to the animals’ behavioral characteristics, and have been extensively studied from the molecular to the systems level. Diversity of photoreceptors has highlighted their evolutionary history. Recent development of this field has greatly indebted to the detailed analyses of opsin-based photopigments. These studies have revealed that invertebrate and vertebrate visual photoreception evolved independently, and have also indicated clear evolutional linkage between the invertebrate visual and vertebrate non-visual photoreceptions. To elucidate how photoreception has evolved, analysis of photoreceptor proteins is indispensable, but proteins are not the only factor: some insects have photoreceptors of different spectral sensitivities using the same photopigment molecule. . In this symposium, evolution and diversity of photoreceptors will be discussed with recent findings on opsin-based pigments as well as other factors.
Speakers:
1) Eric Warrant (Lund Univ., Sweden)
Signal, noise and information in the photoreceptors of a nocturnal bee
2) Michiyo Kinoshita (Sokendai-Hayama, Japan)
Relationship between retinal organization and visual functions in Papilio butterflies
3) Takashi Nagata (Osaka City Univ., Japan)
Molecular basis of vision in a jumpping spider.
4) Mitsumasa Koyanagi (Osaka City Univ., Japan)
Evolution of opsin-based pigments and photoreceptor cells
5) Daisuke Kojima (Univ. Tokyo, Japan)
Non-visual photoreception in vertebrates.