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1 October 2005 Generation of Knock-in Mice Carrying Third Cones with Spectral Sensitivity Different from S and L Cones
Akishi Onishi, Jun Hasegawa, Hiroo Imai, Osamu Chisaka, Yoshiki Ueda, Yoshihito Honda, Masao Tachibana, Yoshinori Shichida
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Abstract

Red-green color vision in primates is unique in the sense that it is mediated by two photo-receptor cells that are indistinguishable in all aspects except for their visual pigments. In order to generate an animal model for investigation of the interaction between red-green inputs at the molecular level, we applied knock-in technology and X-chromosome inactivation machinery to make a mouse model with cone cells possessing visual pigments with different spectral sensitivities. We introduced a S308A point mutation into the Green opsin gene allele on the X-chromosome. This manipulation generated a 24 nm red-shift of absorption maximum in the cone pigment with negligible functional differences in other molecular properties. Amplitudes of responses in ERG and ganglion cell recordings of homozygotes were similar to those of wild-types, although the spectral sensitivities differed. Heterozygotes showed variable spectral sensitivities of ganglion cell responses due to the different integration of the native and the S308A cone inputs on the dendritic fields. In situ hybridization experiments showed that cone cells with respective pigments formed patch-like clusters of specific L cone-types, approximately 30 μm in diameter, which were randomly distributed in the dorsal region of the retinas. Since the patch-like clustering was arranged by X-inactivation, such clustering could be present in the peripheral retinas of New World monkeys with polymorphic L pigments, indicating that our mice would be a suitable model to study evolution of the mammalian color vision system.

Akishi Onishi, Jun Hasegawa, Hiroo Imai, Osamu Chisaka, Yoshiki Ueda, Yoshihito Honda, Masao Tachibana, and Yoshinori Shichida "Generation of Knock-in Mice Carrying Third Cones with Spectral Sensitivity Different from S and L Cones," Zoological Science 22(10), 1145-1156, (1 October 2005). https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.22.1145
Received: 2 June 2005; Accepted: 1 September 2005; Published: 1 October 2005
KEYWORDS
Color vision
cone pigments
knock-in mice
spectral tuning
X-inactivation
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