Human vision is a complex and remarkable sensory process that allows individuals to perceive and interpret their surroundings through the detection of light. At the heart of this intricate mechanism are photoreceptor cells, specialized cells located in the retina of the eye, which play a crucial role in converting light into electrical signals that can be interpreted by the brain. Photoreceptors are broadly categorized into two types: rods and cones. Cone cells are responsible for color vision and function better in bright light conditions. These cells contain photopigments, which are light-sensitive molecules composed of a protein called opsin bound to a light-absorbing chromophore. The diversity of opsin genes underscores the complexity of human vision and its ability to perceive a wide range of colors and light intensities in the surrounding environment. More specifically, humans have three cone opsins, the blue, the red and the green opsin, all expressed in different cones.
These genes have a lot of variations in the genes encoding for the opsins between individuals and we want to observe how perception of color varies among individuals with different sequences at this locus. Furthermore, we want to question if there is a link between some of these variations and a common disease affecting vision, myopia.
