Spectral tuning and signaling of diverse and far red–sensitive rhodopsins in mantis shrimp eyes

Stomatopod crustaceans (mantis shrimps) have extraordinary eyes with unmatched visual rhodopsin diversity, but their potential for broad color detection remains unclear. Here, we report that 17 rhodopsins, mostly from the midband eye region, are involved in color sensing and functionally diverse signaling via Gq/Gi coupling and describe the underlying mechanisms of spectral tuning. Two mid-wavelength rhodopsins preferentially absorb blue light and a majority of long-wavelength opsins absorb in the green range, but three absorb light beyond 600 nanometers, representing exquisite far red-sensitive animal rhodopsins. Several blue and red rhodopsins exhibit photoreversibility with opposite spectral shifts explained by retinal binding interactions, revealing unrecognized photochemical flexibility in stomatopod photoreception. Row-specific spectral sensitivity results from combining carotenoid filters with multiple individually tuned rhodopsins, altogether extending broad vision to the far-red spectrum.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science Advances
Published
2026-10-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aef5666
Primary Topic
Photoreceptor and optogenetics research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Spectral tuning and signaling of diverse and far red–sensitive rhodopsins in mantis shrimp eyes

Arno Munhoven, Marjorie A. Liénard, Peter Hegemann, Alina Pushkarev et al.
Science Advances
Photoreceptor and optogenetics research
article

Spectral tuning and signaling of diverse and far red–sensitive rhodopsins in mantis shrimp eyes

Arno Munhoven, Marjorie A. Liénard, Peter Hegemann, Alina Pushkarev, Songhwan Hwang, Megan L. Porter, Robert James Lucas, Richard J McDowell, Han Sun, Camille Brouillon
article en

Abstract

Stomatopod crustaceans (mantis shrimps) have extraordinary eyes with unmatched visual rhodopsin diversity, but their potential for broad color detection remains unclear. Here, we report that 17 rhodopsins, mostly from the midband eye region, are involved in color sensing and functionally diverse signaling via Gq/Gi coupling and describe the underlying mechanisms of spectral tuning. Two mid-wavelength rhodopsins preferentially absorb blue light and a majority of long-wavelength opsins absorb in the green range, but three absorb light beyond 600 nanometers, representing exquisite far red-sensitive animal rhodopsins. Several blue and red rhodopsins exhibit photoreversibility with opposite spectral shifts explained by retinal binding interactions, revealing unrecognized photochemical flexibility in stomatopod photoreception. Row-specific spectral sensitivity results from combining carotenoid filters with multiple individually tuned rhodopsins, altogether extending broad vision to the far-red spectrum.

Science AdvancesVol. 12(42)
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US), University of Liège (BE), University of Manchester (GB), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE), Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (DE), Technische Universität Berlin (DE)
European Molecular Biology Organization, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS, Gemeinnützige Hertie-Stiftung, Vetenskapsrådet, Hector Fellow Academy, H2020 European Research Council
Openalex Percentile: Top 21%
Photoreceptor and optogenetics research
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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