42] Spectral sensitivities of human cone visual pigments determined in vivo and in vitro

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes the current status of the spectral sensitivity curves that underlie normal and anomalous human color vision, with an emphasis on in vivo psychophysical measurements in genetically well-characterized subjects and in vitro measurements with recombinant cone pigments. The existence of polymorphisms among normal M and L pigment genes, most especially the A180/S180 polymorphism, means that a single set of cone fundamentals will accurately describe the color vision of only a subset of normal trichromats, and that in the construction of an average set of fundamentals it is important that the weighting of polymorphic types within the test population match that in the general population. Thus, the in vivo determination of the cone fundamentals requires an analysis of the spectral sensitivity curves for subjects whose visual pigment gene sequences reveal which of the various possible pigments they possess. By building on advances in molecular biology and exploiting high-precision in vivo and in vitro techniques, significant progress has been made toward the goal of fully cataloging the rich diversity of cone photopigments that underlie normal and anomalous human color vision.