TMT-Opsins differentially modulate medaka brain function in a context-dependent manner

Vertebrate behavior is strongly influenced by light. Light receptors, encoded functional opsin proteins, are present inside the vertebrate brain and peripheral tissues. This expression feature from fishes to human appears be particularly prominent in diurnal vertebrates. Despite their conserved widespread occurrence, nonvisual functions of opsins still largely enigmatic. even more apparent when considering high number opsins. Teleosts possess around 40 genes, young developmental stages adulthood. Many these have been shown function as light receptors. raises question whether this large might mainly reflect redundancy or rather maximally enables teleosts optimally use complex information under water. We focus on tmt-opsin1b tmt-opsin2 , c-opsins with ancestral-type sequence features, across several phyla, expressed partly similar non-rod, non-cone, non-retinal-ganglion-cell tissues a spectral sensitivity. The characterization single mutants revealed age- light-dependent behavioral changes, well an impact levels preprohormone sst1b voltage-gated sodium channel subunit scn12aa . amount daytime rest affected independently eyes, pineal organ, circadian clock mutants. further focused molecular changes tmt-opsin1b/2 double mutants, found that—despite features—these interact part nonadditively. Specifically, complement phenotypes observed age-dependent fashion. Our work provides starting point disentangle highly interactions opsins, suggesting that tmt-opsin -expressing cells together other visual provide detailed organism for fine-tuning. also stepping stone unravel how species but living different ecological niches, respond cues human-generated artificial processes natural environments.