Effects of exogenous thyroid hormones on visual pigment composition in coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch).

The role of exogenous thyroid hormone on visual pigment content of rod and cone photoreceptors was investigated in coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Coho vary the ratio of vitamin A1- and A2-based visual pigments in their eyes. This variability potentially alters spectral sensitivity and thermal stability of the visual pigments. We tested whether the direction of shift in the vitamin A1/A2 ratio, resulting from application of exogenous thyroid hormone, varied in fish of different ages and held under different environmental conditions. Changes in the vitamin A1/A2 visual pigment ratio were estimated by measuring the change in maximum absorbance (lambda max) of rods using microspectrophotometry (MSP). Exogenous thyroid hormone resulted in a long-wavelength shift in rod, middle-wavelength-sensitive (MWS) and long-wavelength-sensitive (LWS) cone photoreceptors. Rod and LWS cone lambda max values increased, consistent with an increase in vitamin A2. MWS cone lambda max values increased more than predicted for a change in the vitamin A1/A2 ratio. To account for this shift, we tested for the expression of multiple RH2 opsin subtypes. We isolated and sequenced a novel RH2 opsin subtype, which had 48 amino acid differences from the previously sequenced coho RH2 opsin. A substitution of glutamate for glutamine at position 122 could partially account for the greater than predicted shift in MWS cone lambda max values. Our findings fit the hypothesis that a variable vitamin A1/A2 ratio provides seasonality in spectral tuning and/or improved thermal stability of visual pigments in the face of seasonal environmental changes, and that multiple RH2 opsin subtypes can provide flexibility in spectral tuning associated with migration-metamorphic events.

Behavioural discrimination of polarized light in the damselfish Chromis viridis (family Pomacentridae).

In this study, we demonstrate the capacity for damselfish (green chromis, Chromis viridis) to discriminate between different e-vector orientations of ultraviolet polarized light. We examined the ability of green chromis to resolve small differences in e-vector orientation of ultraviolet polarized light. Fish were successfully trained to swim towards an e-vector orientation of polarized light using a behavioural chamber. C. viridis was able to discriminate between the horizontal and the vertical plane of ultraviolet polarized light independent of brightness content of the stimuli. However, e-vector discrimination capability disappeared when the ultraviolet portion of the light stimuli was removed, indicating that the presence of ultraviolet light was critical for e-vector discrimination. Fish could also distinguish between relatively small e-vector orientations of ultraviolet polarized light. Functional implications for high e-vector discriminative capabilities could be used in functional domains such as feeding and communication.

Differences in the optical properties of vertebrate photoreceptor classes leading to axial polarization sensitivity.

Polarization microspectrophotometry recordings were made to investigate possible differences in the way different spectral classes of photoreceptors from coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) absorb linearly polarized light. The results strongly suggest that rods and cones absorb transversely illuminating polarized light differently. Cones were found to exhibit a tilted optical geometry in which the maximum absorbance occurred when the E-vector was at a small angle to the transverse axis of the outer segment. Solutions to Maxwell's equations were deduced to investigate the effect of this tilt under conditions of axial illumination. Calculations show an approximate 10% difference in the absorbance of orthogonal polarizations, suggesting the possibility of axial dichroism in the cones of this species.

Visual pigment composition in zebrafish: Evidence for a rhodopsin-porphyropsin interchange system.

Numerous reports have concluded that zebrafish (Danio rerio) possesses A1-based visual pigments in their rod and cone photoreceptors. In the present study, we investigated the possibility that zebrafish have a paired visual pigment system. We measured the spectral absorption characteristics of photoreceptors from zebrafish maintained in different temperature regimes and those treated with exogenous thyroid hormone using CCD-based microspectrophotometry. Rods from fish housed at 15 degrees C and 28 degrees C were not significantly different, having lambda max values of 503 +/- 5 nm (n = 106) and 504 +/- 6 nm (n = 88), respectively. Thyroid hormone treatment (held at 28 degrees C), however, significantly shifted the lambda max of rods from 503 +/- 5 nm (n = 194) to 527 +/- 8 nm (n = 212). Cone photoreceptors in fish housed at 28 degrees C (without thyroid hormone treatment) had lambda max values of 361 +/- 3 nm (n = 2) for ultraviolet-, 411 +/- 5 nm (n = 18) for short-, 482 +/- 6 nm (n = 9) for medium-, and 565 +/- 10 nm (n = 14) for long-wavelength sensitive cones. Thyroid hormone treatment of fish held at 28 degrees C significantly shifted the lambda max of long-wavelength sensitive cones to 613 +/- 11 nm (n = 20), substantially beyond that of the lambda max of the longest possible A1-based visual pigment (approximately 580 nm). Thyroid hormone treatment produced smaller shifts of lambda max in other cone types and increased the half-band width. All shifts in photoreceptor lambda max values resulting from thyroid hormone treatment matched predictions for an A1- to A2-based visual pigment system. We therefore conclude that zebrafish possess a rhodopsin-porphyropsin interchange system that functions to spectrally tune rod and cone photoreceptors. We believe that these observations should be carefully considered during analysis of zebrafish spectral sensitivity.