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doi:10.1534/genetics.104.039511
A more recent version of this article appeared on May 1, 2005.
REGULAR RESEARCH PAPERS |
Elephants and human color-blind deuteranopes have identical sets of visual pigments
Shozo Yokoyama 1*, Naomi Takenaka 1, Dalen W Agnew 2 and Jeheskel Shoshani 3
1 Emory University
2 University of California, Davis
3 University of Asmara
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: syokoya{at}emory.edu.
Submitted on December 9, 2004
Revised on February 1, 2005
Accepted on 5 February 2005
Being the largest land mammals, elephants have very few natural enemies and are active both during day and night. Compared with those of diurnal and nocturnal animals, the eyes of elephants and other arrhythmic species, such as many ungulates and large carnivores, have to function in both the bright light of day and dim light of night. Despite their fundamental importance, the roles of photosensitive molecules, visual pigments, in arrhythmic vision are not well understood. Here we report that elephants (Loxodonta africana and Elephas maximus) use RH1, SWS1 and LWS pigments, which are maximally sensitive to 496, 419 and 552 nm, respectively. These light-sensitivities are virtually identical to those of certain "color-blind" people who lack MWS pigments, which are maximally sensitive to 530 nm. During the day, therefore, elephants seem to have the dichromatic color vision of deuteranopes. During the night, however, they are likely to use RH1 and SWS1 pigments and detect light at 420-490 nm.
Key Words: arrhythmic vision, deuteranopes, elephant, mutagenesis, visual pigments
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