Molecular evolution and expression of opsin genes in Hydra vulgaris

The evolution of opsin genes is of great interest because it can provide insight into the evolution of light detection and vision. An interesting group in which to study opsins is Cnidaria because it is a basal phylum sister to Bilateria with much visual diversity within the phylum. Hydra vulgaris (H. vulgaris) is a cnidarian with a plethora of genomic resources to characterize the opsin gene family. This eyeless cnidarian has a behavioral reaction to light, but it remains unknown which of its many opsins functions in light detection. Here, we used phylogenetics and RNA-seq to investigate the molecular evolution of opsin genes and their expression in H. vulgaris. We explored where opsin genes are located relative to each other in an improved genome assembly and where they belong in a cnidarian opsin phylogenetic tree. In addition, we used RNA-seq data from different tissues of the H. vulgaris adult body and different time points during regeneration and budding stages to gain insight into their potential functions.

We identified 45 opsin genes in H. vulgaris, many of which were located near each other suggesting evolution by tandem duplications. Our phylogenetic tree of cnidarian opsin genes supported previous claims that they are evolving by lineage-specific duplications. We identified two H. vulgaris genes (HvOpA1 and HvOpB1) that fall outside of the two commonly determined Hydra groups; these genes possibly have a function in nematocytes and mucous gland cells respectively. We also found opsin genes that have similar expression patterns to phototransduction genes in H. vulgaris. We propose a H. vulgaris phototransduction cascade that has components of both ciliary and rhabdomeric cascades.

This extensive study provides an in-depth look at the molecular evolution and expression of H. vulgaris opsin genes. The expression data that we have quantified can be used as a springboard for additional studies looking into the specific function of opsin genes in this species. Our phylogeny and expression data are valuable to investigations of opsin gene evolution and cnidarian biology.