European research has investigated a piece in the molecular picture of colour vision disorders. Mutations in production of pigments result in disorders such as colour blindness and night blindness.
The retina of vertebrates contains the cells responsible for colour, rods and, more prominently, cones with blue, red and green pigment. Upon photoactivation, these pigments set off the visual signalling phototransduction cascade whereby light is converted into electrical signals in the cells of the retina to form the functional visual pigment rhodopsin.
Further details: Colour vision mechanisms illuminated