The Pseudogene Question!

[kenhung123]

I assume that most of you guys should have done 2007 by now?

I am having trouble understanding what 8c is asking:

Mice and dogs can only distinguish shades of grey, while some apes and monkeys are able to distinguish colours. Would you expect to find any change in the numbers of smell pseudogenes in apes and monkeys able to distinguish colours? Explain why.

There shouldn't be? I don't get how smell pseudogenes relate to the ability to distinguish colours? It it trying to say the pseudogenes get converted into genes that can see colours or something? Really confusing. The answer seems to be referring to the graph in 8b saying that increase pseudogenes but I never expected it to be: 1. so obvious. 2. so unrelated lol

[shinny]

When an organism lacks or has a lesser ability to sense the world through one sense, they require their other senses to be more sensitive. Hence, mice and dogs have a much stronger sense of smell (i.e. more genes committed to producing proteins for smell) than apes and monkeys would. As apes and monkeys developed colour vision, their sense of smell was no longer necessarily required, and hence these smell proteins would have eventually phased out as pseudogenes.

[kenhung123]

Its so confusing how they put the graph with more pseudogenes and then ask what will you expect for the pseudogenes in the apes+humans.