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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

color vision, dragonflies, damselflies, Odonata

College

Life Sciences

Department

Biology

Abstract

Opsins are the genes present in the eye that are responsible for color vision in all animals (Briscoe et al., 2001). Insect vision is particularly interesting because they are able to see different wavelengths of light due to the number and types of opsins present in the eye. Odonata have very large and complex visual systems. However, the only visual system data that has been gathered on Odonates is physiological data, and no molecular data has been recovered yet to support the physiological data. A previous study by Yang and Osorio (1991) identified 5 opsin copies present in odonates. My project is focusing on molecularly identifying any opsins present in Odonata and how many copies may be present across the suborders. I planned to address the following hypotheses in my research: (1) Are there five copies of the opsin gene in dragonflies and three in damselflies as has been suggested by previous electrophysiology studies (Yang and Osorio, 1991; Lavoie-Dornik et al., 1988); (2) Did these opsin genes undergo duplication events at the base of Odonata or within each suborder or family?; and (3) Do we find orthologous copies of these opsin genes among insect groups outside of Odonata?

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