Unexpected diversity of light-sensing proteins goes beyond vision in frogs

This Thursday marks the first day of summer in the Northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year. Living beings have evolved over many millennia to react to varying amounts of sunlight exposure, governing everything from sleep-wake cycles, seasonal changes and more, but the proteins responsible for responding to different light environments for non-visual purposes are an underexplored area of science. New research led by a York University Faculty of Science professor and former York researcher found that frogs have maintained a shocking number, and diversity, of these light-sensing proteins, called opsins, over evolutionary time.

The life aquatic: a game changer for frog vision, but little difference between night and day, York-led study finds

Frogs display a remarkable diversity of species as a whole, but does the same hold true for their visual abilities? A new study led by York’s Faculty of Science sought to answer this question by collaborating with researchers in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, French Guiana, Gabon, Seychelles, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States, to get a sample of a diverse array of frogs to study the visual pigments found in their eyes.

Tadpoles undergo surprising number of vision changes when becoming frogs

Tadpoles see well underwater, but what happens when they become frogs and live primarily on land? Researchers at York University and several other institutions, curious about the answer, found the eyes of tadpoles undergo a surprising number of changes.