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Essays on tad poles ans frogs9/5/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() They found 42 percent of genes in the eyes of tadpoles changed, were differentially expressed, once it metamorphosized into a frog. "The difference in the gene expression levels that we found in their eyes across the life stages was much higher than expected and a high proportion of them are genes that are directly involved in vision, which was an exciting result," says Schott. ![]() These photoreceptor cells send light signals through the retina to the brain and are what allows animals, including humans, to see. They also used microspectrophotometry to measure whether the photoreceptor cells in the eyes were more sensitive to the redder or bluer parts of the light spectrum at different life stages. The researchers explored changes in gene expression in the eyes of leopard frog tadpoles and juvenile frogs using RNA sequencing, allowing them to see the levels of gene expression, or which genes were turned on in the eyes. "The adaptive decoupling hypothesis proposes that animals that have distinct life stages separated by metamorphosis, like caterpillars to butterflies or tadpoles to frogs, might be more able to adapt to their different environments." We were interested in finding out what changes occur that allow an animal to go from seeing underwater to seeing on land," says Schott, who led the study and is the corresponding author. Animals that see well in one environment will likely not see clearly in the other. The amount of light is also different under water versus on land. The light underwater can have more of a reddish cast, especially in ponds where many frogs live, while the light on land is bluer. "Seeing underwater is not the same as seeing on land. York University Assistant Professor Ryan Schott, who studies the visual system of vertebrates in the Faculty of Science, along with an international team of researchers, examined the eyes of southern leopard frogs to find out if and how they changed. It's already known that tadpoles go through a physical metamorphosis on their way to becoming a frog, but what wasn't known is how their vision adapts at a molecular level across the life stages to a strikingly different environment. ![]()
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