Molecular evolution of human visual pigment genes.

By comparing the published DNA sequences for (a) the genes encoding the human visual color pigments (red, green, and blue) with (b) the genes encoding human, bovine, and Drosophila rhodopsins, a phylogenetic tree for the mammalian pigment genes has been constructed. This evolutionary tree shows that the common ancestor of the visual color pigment genes diverged first from that of the rhodopsin genes; then the common ancestor of the red and green pigment genes and the ancestor of the blue pigment gene diverged; and finally the red and green pigment genes diverged from each other much more recently. Nucleotide substitutions in the rhodopsin genes are best explained by the neutral theory of molecular evolution. However, important functional adaptations seem to have occurred twice during the evolution of the color pigment genes in humans: first, to the common ancestor of the three color pigment genes after its divergence from the ancestor of the rhodopsin gene and, second, to the ancestor of the red pigment gene after its divergence from that of the green pigment gene.

[1]  R. Hardison,et al.  The isolation of structural genes from libraries of eucaryotic DNA , 1978, Cell.

[2]  G. Wald.  The Molecular Basis of Visual Excitation , 1968, Nature.

[3]  P. Hargrave,et al.  Site of attachment of 11-cis-retinal in bovine rhodopsin. , 1980, Biochemistry.

[4]  Brian K. Kobilka,et al.  Cloning of the gene and cDNA for mammalian β-adrenergic receptor and homology with rhodopsin , 1986, Nature.

[5]  M. Caron,et al.  Cloning of the cDNA for the human beta 1-adrenergic receptor. , 1987, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[6]  K. Isenberg,et al.  Adaptive evolution of G-protein coupled receptor genes. , 1989, Molecular biology and evolution.

[7]  J. Nathans,et al.  Molecular genetics of inherited variation in human color vision. , 1986, Science.

[8]  D. Bownds.  Site of Attachment of Retinal in Rhodopsin , 1967, Nature.

[9]  J. Nathans,et al.  Molecular genetics of human color vision: the genes encoding blue, green, and red pigments. , 1986, Science.

[10]  A. Friday,et al.  Molecular Evolution of Myoglobin and the Fossil Record: a Phylogenetic Synthesis , 1973, Nature.

[11]  M. Kimura,et al.  A model of evolutionary base substitutions and its application with special reference to rapid change of pseudogenes. , 1981, Genetics.

[12]  Gerald H. Jacobs,et al.  Within-species variations in visual capacity among squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus): Sensitivity differences , 1983, Vision Research.

[13]  M. Nei,et al.  Simple methods for estimating the numbers of synonymous and nonsynonymous nucleotide substitutions. , 1986, Molecular biology and evolution.

[14]  M. Nei.  Molecular Evolutionary Genetics , 1987 .

[15]  T. Jukes.  CHAPTER 24 – Evolution of Protein Molecules , 1969 .

[16]  N. Saitou,et al.  The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. , 1987, Molecular biology and evolution.

[17]  J Ramachandran,et al.  The avian beta-adrenergic receptor: primary structure and membrane topology. , 1986, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[18]  J. Nathans,et al.  Isolation and nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding human rhodopsin. , 1984, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[19]  M. Kimura,et al.  The neutral theory of molecular evolution. , 1983, Scientific American.

[20]  J. Nathans,et al.  Molecular biology of visual pigments. , 1987, Annual review of neuroscience.

[21]  M. Mishina,et al.  Cloning, sequencing and expression of complementary DNA encoding the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor , 1986, Nature.

[22]  W. Baehr,et al.  Visual pigment homologies revealed by DNA hybridization. , 1986, Science.

[23]  J. Nathans,et al.  Isolation, sequence analysis, and intron-exon arrangement of the gene encoding bovine rhodopsin , 1983, Cell.

[24]  M. Kimura.  Estimation of evolutionary distances between homologous nucleotide sequences. , 1981, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[25]  G. Rubin,et al.  Isolation and structure of a rhodopsin gene from D. melanogaster , 1985, Cell.