First 3D views explain how primate cone pigments distinguish red from green

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Add as preferred source In macaque cone pigments, just three amino acid substitutions (A180S, F277Y, and A285T) account for nearly the entire 30 nm shift in light absorption underlying red–green color discrimination. Credit: Associate Professor Kota Katayama from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan Human color vision depends on three types of cone cells in the retina. Although all three contain the same light-absorbing molecule, 11-cis-retinal, differences in the surrounding protein determine sensitivity to red, green or blue light. Understanding how these subtle protein differences produce such precise color discrimination has been difficult because cone pigments are highly unstable and structurally challenging to study.