Opsin evolution and color vision in jumping spiders


SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY
2021 VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING (VAM)
January 3 – Febuary 28, 2021

Meeting Abstract


77-1  Sat Jan 2  Opsin evolution and color vision in jumping spiders Steck, M*; Sung, JY; Outomuro, D; Maddison, WP; Morehouse, N; Porter, ML; University of Hawai’i at Mānoa; University of Cincinnati; University of Cincinnati; University of British Columbia; University of Cincinnati; University of Hawai’i at Mānoa steck4@hawaii.edu

Male jumping spiders (Salticidae) often exhibit elaborate courtship displays that incorporate colored body surfaces. The colored ornamentations used in these displays in some species may have implications for the evolution of color vision across the family. Previous work has identified up to four visual opsins (Rh1-4) from salticid visual systems, of which only two are expressed in the retinas of the principal eyes. In this study, we investigated the potential evolution of color vision in the family Salticidae using transcriptome data from 20 species to identify opsin transcripts. Three clades of visual rhabdomeric opsin transcripts were consistently identified in each species: Rh1, Rh2, and Rh3/Rh4. Non-visual opsin transcripts were also identified including peropsins, pteropsins, arthropsins, and Rh7 opsins. Sex-specific opsin expression co-occurred in several species where Rh1 transcripts were duplicated. Future work will use antibodies generated from Hasarius adansoni visual opsins to identify expression patterns among eyes and to make predictions about the evolution of color vision within this group. The results presented here suggest that color vision may be more prevalent in salticid vision than previously thought and that duplications of Rh1 have occurred in several species.

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