🧵 New paper! We’re excited to release OPTICS: software that immediately predicts color sensitivity from any opsin protein sequence.
In other words: give OPTICS any opsin sequence, and it predicts the wavelength of light the pigment is most sensitive to 🌈👁️ academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
In other words: give OPTICS any opsin sequence, and it predicts the wavelength of light the pigment is most sensitive to 🌈👁️ academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
Accessible and Robust Machine Learning Approaches to Improve the Opsin Genotype-Phenotype Map
Abstract. Predicting phenotypes from genetic variation is a central challenge in biology. Here, machine learning (ML) offers great promise, but its use is
academic.oup.com
June 17, 2026 at 4:29 AM
🧵 New paper! We’re excited to release OPTICS: software that immediately predicts color sensitivity from any opsin protein sequence.
In other words: give OPTICS any opsin sequence, and it predicts the wavelength of light the pigment is most sensitive to 🌈👁️ academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
In other words: give OPTICS any opsin sequence, and it predicts the wavelength of light the pigment is most sensitive to 🌈👁️ academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
All-optical experiments are great but @neurorussell.bsky.social found that opsin desensitization due to cross-talk between the imaging laser and the opsin causes major issues. These can be ameleorated with long inter-stimulus intervals & short imaging doses. All here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Desensitization of opsin responses during all-optical interrogation depends on imaging parameters
Significance The combination of two-photon calcium imaging and two-photon optogenetic stimulation, termed all-optical interrogation, provides spatial and temporal precision when recording and manipula...
www.biorxiv.org
October 12, 2025 at 12:27 PM
All-optical experiments are great but @neurorussell.bsky.social found that opsin desensitization due to cross-talk between the imaging laser and the opsin causes major issues. These can be ameleorated with long inter-stimulus intervals & short imaging doses. All here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Fortunately, I have an eye drop called Night Sight ™️. Two drops per day throughout your child’s life will not only restore night vision, but supercharge the photoreceptor opsin proteins, expanding their electromagnetic spectrum into wavelengths not normally seen in human vision. New Colors!
May 8, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Fortunately, I have an eye drop called Night Sight ™️. Two drops per day throughout your child’s life will not only restore night vision, but supercharge the photoreceptor opsin proteins, expanding their electromagnetic spectrum into wavelengths not normally seen in human vision. New Colors!
Koulun opettajana ja ko. asioita OPSin mukaan opettavana Purran keksityt syytökset tuntuvat ikäviltä. Ihmeellistä öyhötystä, taas.
February 6, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Koulun opettajana ja ko. asioita OPSin mukaan opettavana Purran keksityt syytökset tuntuvat ikäviltä. Ihmeellistä öyhötystä, taas.
For my #Crustmas birthday, video from the shot below. Late larval stage of a mantis shrimp, one of the coolest things I've seen all year! 😍
We can see RGB colors but they have 33 opsin genes! They may be unable to discriminate those colors well and distinguish by polarized light 🧪🦑
We can see RGB colors but they have 33 opsin genes! They may be unable to discriminate those colors well and distinguish by polarized light 🧪🦑
December 18, 2024 at 2:26 PM
For my #Crustmas birthday, video from the shot below. Late larval stage of a mantis shrimp, one of the coolest things I've seen all year! 😍
We can see RGB colors but they have 33 opsin genes! They may be unable to discriminate those colors well and distinguish by polarized light 🧪🦑
We can see RGB colors but they have 33 opsin genes! They may be unable to discriminate those colors well and distinguish by polarized light 🧪🦑
The formatted paper is now out in MBE - describing OPTICS software to predict color sensitivy based on opsin sequence alone:
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
June 26, 2026 at 9:19 PM
The formatted paper is now out in MBE - describing OPTICS software to predict color sensitivy based on opsin sequence alone:
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
First, first-author paper alert!
“Shedding Light on Patterns of Unconventional Expression of Opsin Genes in Hydra vulgaris” is out and open access in @sicbjournals.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/icb/advance-...
Keep reading for some highlights in the thread below!
🦑🧪
“Shedding Light on Patterns of Unconventional Expression of Opsin Genes in Hydra vulgaris” is out and open access in @sicbjournals.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/icb/advance-...
Keep reading for some highlights in the thread below!
🦑🧪
Shedding Light on Patterns of Unconventional Expression of Opsin Genes in Hydra vulgaris
Synopsis. Opsins are G-protein-coupled receptors often expressed in neuronal photoreceptor cells and used for light detection in most animals, including cn
academic.oup.com
August 27, 2025 at 6:41 PM
First, first-author paper alert!
“Shedding Light on Patterns of Unconventional Expression of Opsin Genes in Hydra vulgaris” is out and open access in @sicbjournals.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/icb/advance-...
Keep reading for some highlights in the thread below!
🦑🧪
“Shedding Light on Patterns of Unconventional Expression of Opsin Genes in Hydra vulgaris” is out and open access in @sicbjournals.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/icb/advance-...
Keep reading for some highlights in the thread below!
🦑🧪
Seth Frazer & @ostratodd.bsky.social advance ML modeling of the opsin genotype–phenotype map, introducing the Opsin Phenotype Tool for Inference of Color Sensitivity platform, and present the Mine-N-Match (MNM) pipeline.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag138
#evobio #molbio
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag138
#evobio #molbio
June 22, 2026 at 10:38 PM
Seth Frazer & @ostratodd.bsky.social advance ML modeling of the opsin genotype–phenotype map, introducing the Opsin Phenotype Tool for Inference of Color Sensitivity platform, and present the Mine-N-Match (MNM) pipeline.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag138
#evobio #molbio
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag138
#evobio #molbio
Happy #FluorescenceFriday (recycled)
November 15, 2024 at 8:18 PM
Happy #FluorescenceFriday (recycled)
Our paper on the evolution of #opsin genes in #Lepidoptera is out in early access in MolBioEvol #evobio 👀🦋
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
Opsin gene duplication in Lepidoptera: retrotransposition, sex linkage, and gene expression
Abstract. Colour vision in insects is determined by signalling cascades, central to which are opsin proteins, resulting in sensitivity to light at different wav
academic.oup.com
November 3, 2023 at 4:02 PM
Our paper on the evolution of #opsin genes in #Lepidoptera is out in early access in MolBioEvol #evobio 👀🦋
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
I am thrilled to announce publication of a new paper led by Seth Frazer, showing we can accurately predict opsin phenotypes from their gene sequences
academic.oup.com/gigascience/... 🧪
academic.oup.com/gigascience/... 🧪
academic.oup.com
October 28, 2024 at 3:32 PM
I am thrilled to announce publication of a new paper led by Seth Frazer, showing we can accurately predict opsin phenotypes from their gene sequences
academic.oup.com/gigascience/... 🧪
academic.oup.com/gigascience/... 🧪
Our paper about opsin gene evolution in diurnal neotropical frogs (and the loss of an opsin gene expressed in a rod in poison frogs) is now out open access at MBE academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
Selection on Visual Opsin Genes in Diurnal Neotropical Frogs and Loss of the SWS2 Opsin in Poison Fr...
Abstract. Amphibians are ideal for studying visual system evolution because their biphasic (aquatic and terrestrial) life history and ecological diversity expos
academic.oup.com
October 4, 2023 at 3:34 PM
Our paper about opsin gene evolution in diurnal neotropical frogs (and the loss of an opsin gene expressed in a rod in poison frogs) is now out open access at MBE academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
Really happy to share our new paper ! We characterized the Morpho butterfly visual system, and found a link between opsin evolution, wing coloration and light habitat. We also highlight correlated evolution between amino acids from different opsin genes at a molecular scale !
Evolution of opsin genes in closely-related species of butterflies specialized in different microhabitats. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.13.659549v1
June 20, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Really happy to share our new paper ! We characterized the Morpho butterfly visual system, and found a link between opsin evolution, wing coloration and light habitat. We also highlight correlated evolution between amino acids from different opsin genes at a molecular scale !
As chemical data grows, turning names into machine-readable structures is key for discovery, automation, and data integration.
OPSIN – now hosted at EMBL-EBI – helps solve this by converting IUPAC names into chemical structures and other machine-readable formats.
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/u...
OPSIN – now hosted at EMBL-EBI – helps solve this by converting IUPAC names into chemical structures and other machine-readable formats.
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/u...
OPSIN chemical name-to-structure tool moves to EMBL-EBI
The Open Parser for Systematic IUPAC Nomenclature (OPSIN) allows users to convert chemical names into structures and machine-readable formats.
www.ebi.ac.uk
May 21, 2025 at 2:40 PM
As chemical data grows, turning names into machine-readable structures is key for discovery, automation, and data integration.
OPSIN – now hosted at EMBL-EBI – helps solve this by converting IUPAC names into chemical structures and other machine-readable formats.
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/u...
OPSIN – now hosted at EMBL-EBI – helps solve this by converting IUPAC names into chemical structures and other machine-readable formats.
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/u...
Lagman, Bergqvist & Kuraku analysed opsin gene evolution in jawless vertebrates, confirming tandem duplications of visual opsins before the vertebrate radiation.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf231
#evobio #molbio #opsins
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf231
#evobio #molbio #opsins
Tandem Gene Clusters as Phylogenetic Anchors Reveal the Hidden History of Vertebrate Visual Opsins
Abstract. The expansion of the visual opsin gene family was a crucial event in the diversification of vertebrate vision in evolution. Additional expansions
doi.org
October 13, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Lagman, Bergqvist & Kuraku analysed opsin gene evolution in jawless vertebrates, confirming tandem duplications of visual opsins before the vertebrate radiation.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf231
#evobio #molbio #opsins
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf231
#evobio #molbio #opsins
from 2019. Opsin 1 and Opsin 2 of the Corn Smut Fungus Ustilago maydis Are Green Light-Driven Proton Pumps www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...
September 29, 2025 at 5:42 AM
from 2019. Opsin 1 and Opsin 2 of the Corn Smut Fungus Ustilago maydis Are Green Light-Driven Proton Pumps www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...
New day, new starter pack, trying to assemble the retinal protein (opsin) community.
Additions welcome!
@bejalab.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/DXgqJYs
Additions welcome!
@bejalab.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/DXgqJYs
November 20, 2024 at 5:53 AM
New day, new starter pack, trying to assemble the retinal protein (opsin) community.
Additions welcome!
@bejalab.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/DXgqJYs
Additions welcome!
@bejalab.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/DXgqJYs
🚨NEW PAPER 🚨 #Caecilians maintain a functional long-wavelength-sensitive cone opsin gene despite signatures of relaxed selection and more than 200 million years of fossoriality, published in Evolution @sse-evolution.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...
academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...
Caecilians maintain a functional long-wavelength-sensitive cone opsin gene despite signatures of relaxed selection and more than 200 million years of fossoriality
The colonization of low-light environments exerts selective pressure to enhance non-visual senses while relaxing selection on vision, often leading to opsi
academic.oup.com
January 26, 2026 at 5:50 AM
🚨NEW PAPER 🚨 #Caecilians maintain a functional long-wavelength-sensitive cone opsin gene despite signatures of relaxed selection and more than 200 million years of fossoriality, published in Evolution @sse-evolution.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...
academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...
Zebrafish retina with fluorescently labelled UV cones (magenta) wearing UV opsin antibody hats (cyan) and rods labelled with @jfadlab.bsky.social's wonderful 4c12 antibody (yellow). #FluorescenceFriday
December 20, 2024 at 1:56 PM
Zebrafish retina with fluorescently labelled UV cones (magenta) wearing UV opsin antibody hats (cyan) and rods labelled with @jfadlab.bsky.social's wonderful 4c12 antibody (yellow). #FluorescenceFriday
🧠💡 Işığa duyarlı bir beyin proteini olan opsin 3 (OPN3), farelerde besin tüketimini düzenliyor.
Araştırmacılar, hipotalamustaki OPN3'ün MC4R ile etkileşime girerek iştahı artırdığını keşfetmişler. OPN3 baskılanınca fareler daha az yemiş.
Araştırmacılar, hipotalamustaki OPN3'ün MC4R ile etkileşime girerek iştahı artırdığını keşfetmişler. OPN3 baskılanınca fareler daha az yemiş.
Researchers discover how opsin 3, a light-sensitive brain protein, regulates food consumption in mice
Scientists discovered years ago that the hypothalamus — which helps to manage body temperature, hunger, sex drive, sleep and more — includes neurons that express the protein opsin 3 (OPN3)...
www.eurekalert.org
February 17, 2025 at 8:21 AM
🧠💡 Işığa duyarlı bir beyin proteini olan opsin 3 (OPN3), farelerde besin tüketimini düzenliyor.
Araştırmacılar, hipotalamustaki OPN3'ün MC4R ile etkileşime girerek iştahı artırdığını keşfetmişler. OPN3 baskılanınca fareler daha az yemiş.
Araştırmacılar, hipotalamustaki OPN3'ün MC4R ile etkileşime girerek iştahı artırdığını keşfetmişler. OPN3 baskılanınca fareler daha az yemiş.
Opsin 5 mediates violet light-accelerated wound healing in mammalian corneas
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Opsin 5 mediates violet light-accelerated wound healing in mammalian corneas
Díaz et al. demonstrate that mechanical injury to the surface of the cornea induces
temporary expression of an opsin photoreceptor, Opn5, in mice and primates. The induction
of this photoreceptor is a...
www.cell.com
July 29, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Opsin 5 mediates violet light-accelerated wound healing in mammalian corneas
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
“Specific opsin and cryptochrome photoreceptors allow organisms to recognize moonlight and adjust their rhythmic behavior accordingly.”
🧪🦑
🧪🦑
Marine organisms advance our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of biological rhythms.
Looking forward to diving into this one 🧪
www.cell.com/trends/genet...
Looking forward to diving into this one 🧪
www.cell.com/trends/genet...
Clocks at sea: the genome-editing tide is rising
The coastline is a particularly challenging environment for its inhabitants. Not only
do they have to cope with the solar day and the passing of seasons, but they must
also deal with tides. In additio...
www.cell.com
April 24, 2024 at 10:29 PM
“Specific opsin and cryptochrome photoreceptors allow organisms to recognize moonlight and adjust their rhythmic behavior accordingly.”
🧪🦑
🧪🦑
If preparing figures please consider "colorblind friendly" approaches (www.nature.com/articles/d41...). I am missing the long-wave opsin, which manifests in strange ways: I can't discern red vs. black. This dichromacy is rare and severe, but ~300 million have more common forms addressed in link.
Colour me better: fixing figures for colour blindness
Images can be made more accessible by choosing hues, shapes and textures carefully.
www.nature.com
April 1, 2026 at 6:56 PM
If preparing figures please consider "colorblind friendly" approaches (www.nature.com/articles/d41...). I am missing the long-wave opsin, which manifests in strange ways: I can't discern red vs. black. This dichromacy is rare and severe, but ~300 million have more common forms addressed in link.