Arikawa K
Graduate School of Integrated Science, Yokohama City University, 236-0027 Yokohama, Japan.
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2003 Nov;189(11):791-800. doi: 10.1007/s00359-003-0454-7. Epub 2003 Sep 30.
This review outlines our recent studies on the spectral organization of butterfly compound eyes, with emphasis on the Japanese yellow swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus, which is the most extensively studied species. Papilio has color vision when searching for nectar among flowers, and their compound eyes are furnished with six distinct classes of spectral receptors (UV, violet, blue, green, red, broadband). The compound eyes consist of many ommatidia, each containing nine photoreceptor cells. How are the six classes of spectral receptors arranged in the ommatidia? By studying their electrophysiology, histology, and molecular biology, it was found that the Papilio ommatidia can be divided into three types according to the combination of spectral receptors they contain. Different types of ommatidia are distributed randomly over the retina. Histologically, the heterogeneity appeared to be related to red or yellow pigmentation around the rhabdom. A subset of red-pigmented ommatidia contains 3-hydroxyretinol in the distal portion, fluorescing under UV epi-illumination. The red, yellow and fluorescing pigments all play crucial roles in determining the spectral sensitivities of receptors. Spectral heterogeneity and random array of ommatidia have also been found in other lepidopteran species. Similarities and differences between species are also discussed.
本综述概述了我们最近关于蝴蝶复眼光谱组织的研究，重点是日本黄凤蝶，它是研究最广泛的物种。黄凤蝶在花丛中寻找花蜜时具有色觉，其复眼配备有六种不同类型的光谱感受器（紫外光、紫光、蓝光、绿光、红光、宽带光）。复眼由许多小眼组成，每个小眼包含九个感光细胞。六种光谱感受器在小眼中是如何排列的呢？通过研究它们的电生理学、组织学和分子生物学，发现黄凤蝶小眼根据所含光谱感受器的组合可分为三种类型。不同类型的小眼随机分布在视网膜上。在组织学上，这种异质性似乎与视杆周围的红色或黄色色素沉着有关。一部分红色色素沉着的小眼在远端部分含有3-羟基视黄醇，在紫外落射照明下会发出荧光。红色、黄色和荧光色素在决定感受器的光谱敏感性方面都起着关键作用。在其他鳞翅目物种中也发现了小眼的光谱异质性和随机排列。本文还讨论了不同物种之间的异同。
