Journal article
Vision and retina evolution: How to develop a retina
IBRO neuroscience reports, Vol.12, pp.240-248
06/01/2022
DOI: 10.1016/j.ibneur.2022.03.008
Abstract
Early in vertebrate evolution, a single homeobox (Hox) cluster in basal chordates was quadrupled to generate the Hox gene clusters present in extant vertebrates. Here we ask how this expanded gene pool may have influenced the evolution of the visual system. We suggest that a single neurosensory cell type split into ciliated sensory cells (photoreceptors, which transduce light) and retinal ganglion cells (RGC, which project to the brain). In vertebrates, development of photoreceptors is regulated by the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor Neurod1 whereas RGC development depends on Atoh7 and related bHLH genes. Lancelet (a basal chordate) does not express Neurod or Atoh7 and possesses a few neurosensory cells with cilia that reach out of the opening of the neural tube. Sea-squirts (Ascidians) do not express Neurod and express a different bHLH gene, Atoh8, that is likely expressed in the anterior vesicle. Recent data indicate the neurosensory cells in lancelets may correspond to three distinct eye fields in ascidians, which in turn may be the basis of the vertebrate retina, pineal and parapineal. In this review we contrast the genetic control of visual structure development in these chordates with that of basal vertebrates such as lampreys and hagfish, and jawed vertebrates. We propose an evolutionary sequence linking whole-genome duplications, initially to a split between photoreceptor and projection neurons (RGC) and subsequently between pineal and lateral eye structures.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Vision and retina evolution: How to develop a retina
- Creators
- Bernd Fritzsch - University of IowaPaul R. Martin - The University of Sydney
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- IBRO neuroscience reports, Vol.12, pp.240-248
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ibneur.2022.03.008
- ISSN
- 2667-2421
- eISSN
- 2667-2421
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000049, name: National Institute on Aging, award: R01 AG060504; DOI: 10.13039/100000002, name: National Institutes of Health
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 06/01/2022
- Academic Unit
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Biology; Craniofacial Anomalies Research Center
- Record Identifier
- 9984241147502771
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