Overview
- In peer-reviewed work from Osaka Metropolitan University, researchers identified a dragonfly eye protein that detects light near 720 nanometers, placing it at the deep red edge of vision.
- They found that a single amino acid at position 292 acts as the key tuning site, matching the mechanism used by mammalian red opsins and pointing to parallel evolution.
- By changing that site, the team engineered versions that pushed sensitivity into the near-infrared and produced clear calcium signals in cultured cells when exposed to 738-nanometer light.
- Reflectance tests showed males and females differ in how their bodies reflect red to near-infrared light, suggesting this sensitivity helps males pick out mates during fast flight.
- Because near-infrared light passes through tissue better than blue or green light, these opsins could support less invasive optogenetic control of cells, though use in living animals still needs to be tested.