medaka visual pigments

It is speculated that visual pigments in most vertebrates can be classified into five subfamilies (Hisatomi et al., 1994). As visual pigment phylogeny have a certain relationship with spectral sensitivity of the pigments, the existence of these subfamily is thought to be a molecular basis for vertebrate color vision.
We isolated five kinds of cDNAs encoding the putative visual pigments of medaka. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that each cDNA falls into a different group of the five major families of vertebrate visual pigment genes. In situ hybridization localized the mRNA of KFH-R and -G to the principle and accessory members, respectively, of double cones. Visual pigment genes KFH-Rh, -B and -V were expressed in the rods, and the long and short single cones, respectively. The photoreceptor morphology, spectral sensitivity and visual pigment group are closely related throughout the teleosts (Hisatomi et al., 1997).

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