Ommatidium assembly and formation of the retina-lamina projection in interspecific chimeras of cockroach

By grafting operations, interspecific eye chimeras of the cockroaches Gromphadorhina portentosa and Leucophaea maderae were produced. Mechanisms involved the development of both the compound eye and the retina-lamina projection have been studied. Most cell types composing the eyes of these cockroaches are cytologically distinguishable in the chimera; also, retinula axons forming the retina-lamina projection in the two species are of vastly different lengths. At the border between host and graft eye tissue, individual ommatidia are formed containing cells of both types. It particular, it is shown that the four cone cells can be found in any of the possible combinations of the two cell types. This shows that the cone cells within one ommatidium are not necessarily related by lineage. These results are in agreement with the hypothesis that cells within an ommatidium are determined by position rather than by a lineage mechanism. Furthermore, formation of mosaic ommatidia suggests that mechanisms governing eye formation are similar in these two species. The formation of the projection from donor retina to host lamina shows that axon elongation is not rigidly programmed, but that the axons grow until they reach a suitable target at which point connexions are made.