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Updated: May 2, 2026

Live-imaging of the Drosophila Pupal Eye
Published on: January 12, 2015
Cephalopod eye evolution was modulated by the acquisition of Pax-6 splicing variants
Masa-aki Yoshida1, Kei Yura2, Atsushi Ogura3
1Research fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, National Institute of Genetics, 1111 Yata, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan.
Abstract:
Previous studies have reported that the developmental processes of vertebrate eyes are controlled by four Pax-6 splicing variants, each modulating different downstream genes, whereas those of insect eyes are controlled by duplicated Pax-6 genes. Cephalopods belong to the Protostomes but possess a camera-type eye similar to those in vertebrates. We examined Pax-6 variations in the squid and found five types of Pax-6 splicing variants but no duplication of the Pax-6 gene. In the five splicing variants, the splicing patterns were produced by the combination of two additional exons to the ortholog and one jettisoned exon containing most of the Homeobox domain (HD). These five variants show spatio-temporal patterns of gene expression during development in the squid. Our study suggests that cephalopods acquired Pax-6 splicing variants independent of those in vertebrates and that these variants were similarly utilized in the development of the squid eye.
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