Raw sequence reads of four Owl species

Owls (Strigiformes) are a group of bird that are active mainly during twilight and night. For eight owl species the absence of a functional SWS1 opsin, coding for the ultraviolet/violet-sensitive opsin, have been documented which can be seen as a possible adaptation to an ecological niche shifted towards night time activity. In this project, we used transcriptome sequencing of retina from 4 owl species to understand whether the SWS1 opsin gene is functional and expressed as well as the molecular basis that underlie the adaptation to night-time activity.