Wavelength Discrimination in Drosophila Suggests a Role of Rhodopsin 1 in Color Vision.

Among the five photoreceptor opsins in the eye of Drosophila, Rhodopsin 1 (Rh1) is expressed in the six outer photoreceptors. In a previous study that combined behavioral genetics with computational modeling, we demonstrated that flies can use the signals from Rh1 for color vision. Here, we provide an in-depth computational analysis of wildtype Drosophila wavelength discrimination specifically considering the consequences of different choices of computations in the preprocessing of the behavioral data. The results support the conclusion that Drosophila wavelength discrimination behavior can best be explained by a contribution of Rh1. These findings are corroborated by results of an information-theoretical analysis that shows that Rh1 provides information for discrimination of natural reflectance spectra.