Natural image statistics for mouse vision

PLoS One. 2022 Jan 20;17(1):e0262763. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262763. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

The mouse has dichromatic color vision based on two different types of opsins: short (S)- and middle (M)-wavelength-sensitive opsins with peak sensitivity to ultraviolet (UV; 360 nm) and green light (508 nm), respectively. In the mouse retina, cone photoreceptors that predominantly express the S-opsin are more sensitive to contrasts and denser towards the ventral retina, preferentially sampling the upper part of the visual field. In contrast, the expression of the M-opsin gradually increases towards the dorsal retina that encodes the lower visual field. Such a distinctive retinal organization is assumed to arise from a selective pressure in evolution to efficiently encode the natural scenes. However, natural image statistics of UV light remain largely unexplored. Here we developed a multi-spectral camera to acquire high-quality UV and green images of the same natural scenes, and examined the optimality of the mouse retina to the image statistics. We found that the local contrast and the spatial correlation were both higher in UV than in green for images above the horizon, but lower in UV than in green for those below the horizon. This suggests that the dorsoventral functional division of the mouse retina is not optimal for maximizing the bandwidth of information transmission. Factors besides the coding efficiency, such as visual behavioral requirements, will thus need to be considered to fully explain the characteristic organization of the mouse retina.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cone Opsins / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Retina / physiology*
  • Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells / metabolism*
  • Rod Opsins / metabolism
  • Vision, Ocular / physiology*

Substances

  • Cone Opsins
  • Rod Opsins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by research grants from EMBL (H.A.). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.