Presenter: Ashlyn Powell
Authors: Ashlyn Powell, Paul Frandsen
Faculty Advisor: Paul Frandsen
Institution: Brigham Young University
Visual systems are complex among insects. Given the varying life history strategies, e.g., flying, soil dwelling, aquatic, etc., the evolution of visual systems is also extremely variable. Opsins are a primary family of protein coding genes involved in the evolution of vision and are considered to be vital to acquiring greater visual capacity in species. While opsins from some groups of insects, such as dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) have been sampled well, opsins in other groups of insects, such as caddisflies, have never been sampled. Caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera) are a diverse order of aquatic insects. As larvae they inhabit benthic habitats of freshwater rivers, streams, and ponds, but as adults they occupy terrestrial environments. Presumably, such varied environments require a plastic and varied visual system. Here we present the first survey of opsins from genomes of 23 species of caddisfly, representing the major evolutionary lineages within the order.