个人简介

Ph.D. Harvard 1995

研究领域

Animal Biology Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Comparative Genomics Evolutionary Biology Molecular Biology Neurobiology

Vision in animals is triggered via absorption of a photon by a visual pigment located in the photoreceptors of the eye, resulting in a signal to the brain that light has been perceived. Changes in the functional properties of visual pigments can therefore have profound consequences on the visual capabilities of an organism. The visual system has a surprisingly large dynamic range, and is highly specialized for the efficient sensing of light even under very low light levels. How is this achieved at the molecular level? We are also interested in mechanisms of spectral tuning, and the evolution of color vision. We study these and other questions by reconstructing the evolutionary history of visual pigments, so that important changes in their function can be examined experimentally. This involves using computational tools to infer ancestral pigment sequences, followed by synthesis and expression of the ancestral genes in the laboratory so that their biochemical properties can be assayed directly. We compare reconstructed ancestors with present day visual pigments, particularly those from animals that live in unusual visual environments. Our research uses a variety of interdiscplinary approaches to better understand the evolution of visual pigment structure and function, including next generation sequencing, computational sequence analysis, site-directed mutagenesis and protein expression.

近期论文

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Spectral tuning in vertebrate short wavelength-sensitive 1 (SWS1) visual pigments: Can wavelength sensitivity be inferred from sequence data?.Hauser FE, van Hazel I, Chang BS.J. Exp. Zool. B Mol. Dev. Evol. 2014 Jun; pubmed Selection on synonymous codons in mammalian rhodopsins: a possible role in optimizing translational processes.Du J, Dungan SZ, Sabouhanian A, Chang BS.BMC Evol. Biol. 2014;14:96 pubmed Molecular evolution of GPCRs: CRH/CRH receptors.Lovejoy DA, Chang BS, Lovejoy NR, del Castillo J.J. Mol. Endocrinol. 2014 Jun;52(3):T43-60 pubmed Ancient insights into uric acid metabolism in primates.Chang BS.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2014 Mar;111(10):3657-8 pubmed Divergent positive selection in rhodopsin from lake and riverine cichlid fishes.Schott RK, Refvik SP, Hauser FE, López-Fernández H, Chang BS.Mol. Biol. Evol. 2014 May;31(5):1149-65 pubmed Encoding asymmetry of the N-glycosylation motif facilitates glycoprotein evolution.Williams R, Ma X, Schott RK, Mohammad N, Ho CY, Li CF, Chang BS, Demetriou M, Dennis JW.PLoS ONE 2014;9(1):e86088 pubmed Functional characterization of spectral tuning mechanisms in the great bowerbird short-wavelength sensitive visual pigment (SWS1), and the origins of UV/violet vision in passerines and parrots.van Hazel I, Sabouhanian A, Day L, Endler JA, Chang BS.BMC Evol. Biol. 2013;13:250 pubmed The Burmese python genome reveals the molecular basis for extreme adaptation in snakes.Castoe TA, de Koning AP, Hall KT, Card DC, Schield DR, Fujita MK, Ruggiero RP, Degner JF, Daza JM, Gu W, Reyes-Velasco J, Shaney KJ, Castoe JM, Fox SE, Poole AW, Polanco D, Dobry J, Vandewege MW, Li Q, Schott RK, Kapusta A, Minx P, Feschotte C, Uetz P, Ray DA, Hoffmann FG, Bogden R, Smith EN, Chang BS, Vonk FJ, Casewell NR, Henkel CV, Richardson MK, Mackessy SP, Bronikowski AM, Bronikowsi AM, Yandell M, Warren WC, Secor SM, Pollock DD.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2013 Dec;110(51):20645-50 pubmed Molecular evolutionary analysis of vertebrate transducins: a role for amino acid variation in photoreceptor deactivation.Lin YG, Weadick CJ, Santini F, Chang BS.J. Mol. Evol. 2013 Dec;77(5-6):231-45 pubmed Complex patterns of divergence among green-sensitive (RH2a) African cichlid opsins revealed by Clade model analyses.Weadick CJ, Chang BS.BMC Evol. Biol. 2012;12:206 pubmed Functional characterization of the rod visual pigment of the echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), a basal mammal.Bickelmann C, Morrow JM, Müller J, Chang BS.Vis. Neurosci. 2012 Sep;29(4-5):211-7 pubmed Visual pigment molecular evolution in the Trinidadian pike cichlid (Crenicichla frenata): a less colorful world for neotropical cichlids?.Weadick CJ, Loew ER, Rodd FH, Chang BS.Mol. Biol. Evol. 2012 Oct;29(10):3045-60 pubmed