Guiding Light: Mechanisms and Adjustments of Environmental Light Interpretation with Insights from Platynereis dumerilii and Other Selected Examples.

Abstract

Animals possess many light-sensitive molecules. They exist as dedicated photoreceptors, or as byproducts of biochemical reactions. Their numbers are often high even in species that live in environments that humans would consider dark, as well as in species that are considered comparably simple (e.g., worms, cnidarians). But why are there so many photoreceptors? We provide some considerations on this question. Light conveys a significant amount of information to animals, through complex spectral and intensity changes, often specific to the spatial and temporal ecological niches a species inhabits. We discuss that the large number of opsins and cryptochromes, often also present outside the eyes and partially co-expressed, represent adaptation mechanisms to the highly complex light environment within a given niche. While theoretical, it is a plausible hypothesis given that most experimentally tested opsins and cryptochromes have been shown to be functional photoreceptors. The example of lunar and solar timing of the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii provides insight on how animals use the biochemical and cellular properties of different photoreceptors to decode solar versus lunar light, and their different adaptations in Drosophila melanogaster. We suggest that the future understanding of biological processes will strongly benefit from comparative lab and field work on the same species, and provide a first example for such work in P. dumerilii. Finally, we point out that work on animal light detection systems and their adaptability is crucial to understand the impact of anthropogenic changes on species and ecosystems.