PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jacobs, Gerald H.
AU  - Fenwick, John C.
AU  - Calderone, Jack B.
AU  - Deeb, Samir S.
TI  - Human Cone Pigment Expressed in Transgenic Mice Yields Altered Vision
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.19-08-03258.1999
DP  - 1999 Apr 15
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 3258--3265
VI  - 19
IP  - 8
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/19/8/3258.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/19/8/3258.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.1999 Apr 15; 19
AB  - Genetically driven alterations in the complement of retinal photopigments are fundamental steps in the evolution of vision. We sought to determine how a newly added photopigment might impact vision by studying a transgenic mouse that expresses a human cone photopigment. Electroretinogram (ERG) measurements indicate that the added pigment works well, significantly changing spectral sensitivity without deleteriously affecting the operation of the native cone pigments. Visual capacities of the transgenic mice were established in behavioral tests. The new pigment was found to provide a significant expansion of the spectral range over which mice can perceive light, thus underlining the immediate utility of acquiring a new photopigment. The transgenic mouse also has the receptor basis for a novel color vision capacity, but tests show that potential was not realized. This failure likely reflects limitations in the organizational arrangement of the mouse retina.