Expression of Non-Visual Opsins in the Green Anole Lizard (Anolis carolinensis)

Extra-retinal photoreception is widely observed across vertebrates, facilitating species-specific regulation of physiological and behavioral responses to diverse photic environments. Yet, the roles of non-visual opsins remain poorly understood, as their distribution and function have not yet been systematically investigated. This study provides the first comprehensive evidence of non-visual opsin expression across the reptile body. Using predicted sequences for extra-retinal photoreceptors, non-visual opsins were confirmed in the brain, eye, testes, liver, and skin. This datasets contains a spreadsheet with the raw and normalised data across tissues and genes used in this study. All values were obtained by running quantitative pcr (qpcr) on a MxPro3000, using Sybrgreen (Aligent Technologies)