Placopecten magellanicus adult eye transcriptome

Spatial vision has evolved multiple times in metazoans, up to 13 times in Molluscs alone. The mirror-type eye of the scallop (Bivalvia: Pectinidae) represents one of these independently derived eyes. While the structure and physiology of the scallop eye is well studied, very little is known about the underlying genetic components important for function. This lack of genetic data limits our ability to study the evolution of this and other diverse molluscan eyes. We have sequenced the adult eye transcriptome of the sea scallop, Placopecten magellanicus, to help fill these gaps in knowledge. Specifically, we sought to accomplish three goals: 1) identify the components of the phototransduction pathways, 2) identify genes important for any other light detection function in the scallop eye, and 3) identify novel genes within the scallop eye.