Sensory evolution: A dazzling hack to cope with bright light in owls and whales.

Animals; Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells; Retina; Light; Whales; Strigiformes; Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (all); Agricultural and Biological Sciences (all); General Agricultural and Biological Sciences; General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Abstract :

[en] When exposed to sudden changes in light intensity, rod-dominated retinas of animals with highly sensitive dim-vision risk critical damage. A new study finds that owls and deep-diving whales have evolved an identical photoprotection mechanism to delay toxic all-trans retinal release, a discovery with potential medical implications.

Disciplines :

Biochemistry, biophysics & molecular biology

Author, co-author :

Lienard, Marjorie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > GIGA > GIGA Molecular Biology of Diseases ; Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 35B, 22362 Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: marjorie.lienard@biol.lu.se

Language :

English

Title :

Sensory evolution: A dazzling hack to cope with bright light in owls and whales.

Publication date :

20 November 2023

Journal title :

Current Biology

ISSN :

0960-9822

eISSN :

1879-0445

Publisher :

Cell Press, England

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

R1200 - R1202

Peer reviewed :

Editorial reviewed

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0960982223013647?httpAccept=text/xml

Funders :

Swedish Research Council [SE]

Funding text :

The author declares no competing interests.

Available on ORBi :

since 25 January 2024

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