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Deep-sea and pelagic rod visual pigments identified in the mysticete whales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2012

NICOLE BISCHOFF ,
BENJAMIN NICKLE ,
THOMAS W. CRONIN ,
STEPHANI VELASQUEZ  and
JEFFRY I. FASICK
NICOLE BISCHOFF
Affiliation:
The New Jersey Center for Science, Technology & Mathematics, Kean University, Union, New Jersey
BENJAMIN NICKLE
Affiliation:
Department of Biochemistry, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts
THOMAS W. CRONIN
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland
STEPHANI VELASQUEZ
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey
JEFFRY I. FASICK*
Affiliation:
School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Kean University, Union, New Jersey
*
*Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jeffry I. Fasick, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Kean University, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, NJ 07083. E-mail: jfasick@kean.edu
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Abstract

Our current understanding of the spectral sensitivities of the mysticete whale rod-based visual pigments is based on two species, the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) and the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) possessing absorbance maxima determined from difference spectra to be 492 and 497 nm, respectively. These absorbance maxima values are blueshifted relative to those from typical terrestrial mammals (≈500 nm) but are redshifted when compared to those identified in the odontocetes (479–484 nm). Although these mysticete species represent two of the four mysticete families, they do not fully represent the mysticete whales in terms of foraging strategy and underwater photic environments where foraging occurs. In order to better understand the spectral sensitivities of the mysticete whale rod visual pigments, we have examined the rod opsin genes from 11 mysticete species and their associated amino acid substitutions. Based on the amino acids occurring at positions 83, 292, and 299 along with the directly determined dark spectra from expressed odontocete and mysticete rod visual pigments, we have determined that the majority of mysticete whales possess deep-sea and pelagic like rod visual pigments with absorbance maxima between 479 and 484 nm. Finally, we have defined the five amino acid substitution events that determine the resulting absorbance spectra and associated absorbance maxima for the mysticete whale rod visual pigments examined here.

Keywords

BaleenCetaceanOpsinAbsorbance spectraAmino acid substitution
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , March 2012 , pp. 95 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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