Dark‑adaptation in the eyes of a lake and a sea population of opossum shrimp (Mysis relicta): retinoid isomer dynamics, rhodopsin regeneration, and recovery of light sensitivity

We have studied dark-adaptation at three levels in the eyes of the crustaceanMysis relictaover 2-3 weeks after exposing initially dark-adapted animals to strong white light: regeneration of 11-cisretinal through the retinoid cycle (by HPLC), restoration of native rhodopsin in photoreceptor membranes (by MSP), and recovery of eye photosensitivity (by ERG). We compare two model populations ("Sea", S-p, and "Lake", L-p) inhabiting, respectively, a low light and an extremely dark environment. 11-cisretinal reached 60-70% of the pre-exposure levels after 2 weeks in darkness in both populations. The only significant L-p/S(p)difference in the retinoid cycle was that L(p)had much higher levels of retinol, both basal and light-released. In S-p, rhodopsin restoration and eye photoresponse recovery parallelled 11-cisretinal regeneration. In L-p, however, even after 3 weeks only ca. 25% of the rhabdoms studied had incorporated new rhodopsin, and eye photosensitivity showed only incipient recovery from severe depression. The absorbance spectra of the majority of the L(p)rhabdoms stayed constant around 490-500 nm, consistent with metarhodopsin II dominance. We conclude that sensitivity recovery of S(p)eyes was rate-limited by the regeneration of 11-cisretinal, whilst that of L(p)eyes was limited by inertia in photoreceptor membrane turnover.