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Laboratory of Sensory Systems  

The lab focuses on understanding the molecular and functional basis underlying the evolutionary diversity of sensory receptor proteins from natural biological systems.

Research 

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G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) opsins  

We merge transcriptomic, molecular and functional approaches to explore the structure-function relationships of natural visual and non-visual GPCR opsins, and investigate the effect of mutations on spectral tuning in an evolutionary and translational framework.

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Publications  

Selected publications 

Valencia-Montoya WA, Liénard MA, Rosser N, Calonje M, Salzman S, Tsai CC, Yu N, Carlson JR, Cogni R, Pierce NE, Bellono NW. (2025). Infrared radiation is an ancient pollination signal. Science 390:1164-1170. 10.1126/science.adz1728 | Science Perspective Evolutionary Biology | Podcast Avec la Science | NYTimes 

Liénard MA*, Báez-Nieto D*, Tsai CC, Valencia-Montoya WA, Werin B, Johansson U, Lassance JM, Pan JQ, Yu NF, Pierce NE (2024). TRPA5 encodes a thermosensitive ankyrin ion channel receptor in a triatomine insect. iScience 109541. *equal contributions.  doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.109541

Roberts NS, Svensson EI, Liénard MA (2025). Opsin gene expression plasticity and spectral sensitivity as mechanisms for search image formation in male damselflies. Proceedings Biological Sciences 292, 20242511. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.2511

Liénard MA, Valencia-Montoya WA, Pierce NE (2022). Molecular advances to study the function, evolution, and spectral tuning of arthropod visual opsins. Philosophical transactions B. 377 (20210279). doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0279

Liénard MA, Bernard GD, Allen AA, Lassance JM, Song S*, Childers Rabideau R, Yu NF, Ye D*, Stephenson A*, Valencia-Montoya WA, Salzman S, Whitaker MRL, Calonje M, Zhang F, Pierce NE. (2021). The evolution of red colour vision is linked to coordinated rhodopsin tuning in lycaenid butterflies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 118: e2008986118. *undergraduate students supervised by Marjorie Liénard. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2008986118

All publications

Contact
Laboratory of Sensory Systems

Marjorie Lienard

marjorie.lienard@uliege.be

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