Meeting Abstract
Despite African cichlids being a classic system for understanding molecular adaptation of visual systems to the environment and coevolution of color signals and receivers’ visual physiology, not much is known about visual ecology of New World cichlids. We investigate the visual system of convict cichlids, Amatitlania nigrofasciata and A. siquia using physiological and genetic methods. The convict cichlid is native to Central American, where A. siquia lives in streams and rivers of Costa Rica and A. nigrofasciata lives in lakes in Nicaragua. Using microspectrophotometry, we establish that each species expresses 4 different cone photoreceptors. Further, sequencing of opsin genes expressed in the retina confirms that A. nigrofasciata expresses at least 4 opsin genes (SWS2a, SWS2b, Rh2a, and LWS). This conflicts with a previous report that found no evidence of Rh2 expression in the retina. Finally, we compare opsin sequences from populations of A. nigrofasciata that occur in different light environments. Preliminary evidence did not find differences in opsin sequences between populations, suggesting that visual adaptation between populations may be due to gene expression profiles, as in some African cichlid systems.
