| Project/Area Number |
26650117
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
|
| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
|---|
| Research Field |
Animal physiology/Animal behavior
|
|---|
| Research Institution | The Graduate University for Advanced Studies |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
Arikawa Kentaro 総合研究大学院大学, 先導科学研究科, 教授 (20167232)
|
|---|
| Research Collaborator |
Perry Michael , JSPS Post-doctoral fellow
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
|
| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
|
| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
|
|---|
| Keywords | 複眼 / 視細胞 / 進化 / 発生 / ショウジョウバエ / チョウ類 / 調節因子 / 国際研究者交流 |
|---|
| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Compound eyes of many insects consists of two spectrally-heterogeneous ommatidia. The number is three in butterflies and bees, making their eyes spectrally richer. Is this an adaptation for having better color vision in flower-visitors? We addressed this question by comparing the eye development in flies and butterflies. A transcription factor Prospero (Pros) is expressed in a short-wavelength receptor, R7, in all ommatidia in flies. We found Pros is expressed in two cells per an ommatidium in butterflies: R7 seems to be duplicated. Ommatidial heterogeneity is detected in flies by stochastic expression of Spineless (Ss) in R7. In butterflies, two R7-like cells express Ss in three patterns, on/off, on/on and off/off, as if they correspond to three ommatidial types. In fact, butterflies whose ss gene is knocked-out have only the UV-UV type ommatidia. It thus appears that the spectral richness of butterfly eyes is associated with duplication of R7-like cell in the process of adaptation.
|
