Data from: Teasing apart the many effects of lighting environment on opsin expression and foraging preference in bluefin killifish

Coloration and color vision covary with lighting in many taxa. Determining the mechanisms underlying these patterns is difficult because lighting environments can have multiple effects on signaling that occur at multiple time scales. Lighting environments can (1) immediately affect signal propagation and transmission which determine the radiance spectrum reaching the receiver, (2) induce variation in visual systems via developmental plasticity, and (3) lead to genetic differences in visual systems due to a history of selection in different habitats. We tease apart these effects on pecking preference and examine the relationship between pecking preference and opsin expression. Using killifish from two visually distinct populations (clear vs. tea-stained water), we performed crosses (genetics), raised animals under different lighting conditions (developmental plasticity), and assayed preference to peck at different colored dots under different lighting conditions (immediate effects). Pecks are interpreted as foraging preference. Developmental plasticity affected both pecking preference and opsin expression. Lighting environments also had immediate effects on pecking preference, but these depended on the lighting conditions animals experienced during development. Genetic effects were detected in opsin expression, but there were no corresponding effects on pecking preference. Overall, only 3.36% of the variation in pecking preference was accounted for by opsin expression.诸多分类群中，体色与色觉均与光照环境协同变化。解析这类关联背后的作用机制颇具挑战，因光照环境对信号传导的影响存在多时间尺度特征。光照环境可通过三种途径发挥作用：(1) 直接影响信号传播与传递，进而决定抵达接收者的辐射光谱；(2) 经由发育可塑性（developmental plasticity）诱导视觉系统产生变异；(3) 因不同生境的选择历史，导致视觉系统出现遗传差异。本研究拆解了光照环境对啄食偏好的三类影响，并探究了啄食偏好与视蛋白（opsin）表达间的关联。本研究选取两个视觉环境迥异的鳉鱼种群（分别栖息于清澈水体与茶水色水体），开展杂交实验（遗传学层面）、在不同光照条件下饲养实验动物（探究发育可塑性），并在不同光照环境下检测实验对象对不同彩色圆点的啄食偏好（验证直接效应）。本研究将啄食行为视为觅食偏好的表征。发育可塑性对啄食偏好与视蛋白表达均产生显著影响。光照环境同样对啄食偏好存在直接效应，但该效应依赖于实验动物发育阶段所经历的光照条件。视蛋白表达层面可检测到遗传效应，但啄食偏好未出现与之对应的遗传差异。总体而言，视蛋白表达仅能解释啄食偏好3.36%的变异量。