Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-11-2020
Publication Title
Scientific Reports
ISSN
2045-2322
Volume
10
Issue/No.
4485
First Page
1
Last Page
10
Abstract
Extraocular photoreception, the ability to detect and respond to light outside of the eye, has not been previously described in deep-sea invertebrates. Here, we investigate photosensitivity in the bioluminescent light organs (photophores) of deep-sea shrimp, an autogenic system in which the organism possesses the substrates and enzymes to produce light. Through the integration of transcriptomics, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry we find evidence for the expression of opsins and phototransduction genes known to play a role in light detection in most animals. Subsequent shipboard light exposure experiments showed ultrastructural changes in the photophore similar to those seen in crustacean eyes, providing further evidence that photophores are light sensitive. In many deep-sea species, it has long been documented that photophores emit light to aid in counterillumination – a dynamic form of camouflage that requires adjusting the organ’s light intensity to “hide” their silhouettes from predators below. However, it remains a mystery how animals fine-tune their photophore luminescence to match the intensity of downwelling light. Photophore photosensitivity allows us to reconsider the organ’s role in counterillumination - not only in light emission but also light detection and regulation.
Additional Comments
NSF grant #: DEB-1556059
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
NSUWorks Citation
Heather D. Bracken-Grissom, Danielle M. DeLeo, Megan L. Porter, Tom Iwanicki, Jamie E. Sickles, and Tamara Frank. 2020. Light Organ Photosensitivity in Deep-Sea Shrimp May Suggest a Novel Role in Counterillumination .Scientific Reports , (4485) : 1 -10. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/1070.
ResearcherID
W-8662-2019
DOI
10.1038/s41598-020-61284-9
Comments
©The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.