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Neon-green fluorescence in the desert gecko Pachydactylus rangei caused by iridophores

Biofluorescence is widespread in the natural world, but only recently discovered in terrestrial vertebrates. Here, we report on the discovery of iridophore-based, neon-green flourescence in the gecko Pachydactylus rangei, localised to the skin around the eyes and along the flanks. The maximum emissi...

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Autores principales: Prötzel, David, Heß, Martin, Schwager, Martina, Glaw, Frank, Scherz, Mark D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7801506/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33432052
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79706-z
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author Prötzel, David
Heß, Martin
Schwager, Martina
Glaw, Frank
Scherz, Mark D.
author_facet Prötzel, David
Heß, Martin
Schwager, Martina
Glaw, Frank
Scherz, Mark D.
author_sort Prötzel, David
collection PubMed
description Biofluorescence is widespread in the natural world, but only recently discovered in terrestrial vertebrates. Here, we report on the discovery of iridophore-based, neon-green flourescence in the gecko Pachydactylus rangei, localised to the skin around the eyes and along the flanks. The maximum emission of the fluorescence is at a wavelength of 516 nm in the green spectrum (excitation maximum 465 nm, blue) with another, smaller peak at 430 nm. The fluorescent regions of the skin show large numbers of iridophores, which are lacking in the non-fluorescent parts. Two types of iridophores are recognized, fluorescent iridophores and basal, non-fluorescent iridophores, the latter of which might function as a mirror, amplifying the omnidirectional fluorescence. The strong intensity of the fluorescence (quantum yield of 12.5%) indicates this to be a highly effective mechanism, unique among tetrapods. Although the fluorescence is associated with iridophores, the spectra of emission and excitation as well as the small Stokes shifts argue against guanine crystals as its source, but rather a rigid pair of fluorophores. Further studies are necessary to identify their morphology and chemical structures. We hypothesise that this nocturnal gecko uses the neon-green fluorescence, excited by moonlight, for intraspecific signalling in its open desert habitat.
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spelling pubmed-78015062021-01-12 Neon-green fluorescence in the desert gecko Pachydactylus rangei caused by iridophores Prötzel, David Heß, Martin Schwager, Martina Glaw, Frank Scherz, Mark D. Sci Rep Article Biofluorescence is widespread in the natural world, but only recently discovered in terrestrial vertebrates. Here, we report on the discovery of iridophore-based, neon-green flourescence in the gecko Pachydactylus rangei, localised to the skin around the eyes and along the flanks. The maximum emission of the fluorescence is at a wavelength of 516 nm in the green spectrum (excitation maximum 465 nm, blue) with another, smaller peak at 430 nm. The fluorescent regions of the skin show large numbers of iridophores, which are lacking in the non-fluorescent parts. Two types of iridophores are recognized, fluorescent iridophores and basal, non-fluorescent iridophores, the latter of which might function as a mirror, amplifying the omnidirectional fluorescence. The strong intensity of the fluorescence (quantum yield of 12.5%) indicates this to be a highly effective mechanism, unique among tetrapods. Although the fluorescence is associated with iridophores, the spectra of emission and excitation as well as the small Stokes shifts argue against guanine crystals as its source, but rather a rigid pair of fluorophores. Further studies are necessary to identify their morphology and chemical structures. We hypothesise that this nocturnal gecko uses the neon-green fluorescence, excited by moonlight, for intraspecific signalling in its open desert habitat. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-01-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7801506/ /pubmed/33432052 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79706-z Text en © The Author(s) 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Prötzel, David
Heß, Martin
Schwager, Martina
Glaw, Frank
Scherz, Mark D.
Neon-green fluorescence in the desert gecko Pachydactylus rangei caused by iridophores
title Neon-green fluorescence in the desert gecko Pachydactylus rangei caused by iridophores
title_full Neon-green fluorescence in the desert gecko Pachydactylus rangei caused by iridophores
title_fullStr Neon-green fluorescence in the desert gecko Pachydactylus rangei caused by iridophores
title_full_unstemmed Neon-green fluorescence in the desert gecko Pachydactylus rangei caused by iridophores
title_short Neon-green fluorescence in the desert gecko Pachydactylus rangei caused by iridophores
title_sort neon-green fluorescence in the desert gecko pachydactylus rangei caused by iridophores
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7801506/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33432052
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79706-z
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