Related Experiment Videos
New perspectives on eye evolution
G Halder1, P Callaerts, W J Gehring
1Department of Cell Biology, University of Basel, Switzerland.
Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
|October 1, 1995
Abstract:
The highly complex eyes of vertebrates, insects and molluscs have long been considered to be of independent evolutionary origin. Recently, however, Pax-6, a highly conserved transcription factor, has been identified as a key regulator of eye development in both mammals and flies. Homologues of Pax-6 have also been identified in species from other phyla, including molluscs. The wide variety of eyes in the animal kingdom may, therefore, have evolved from a single ancestral photosensitive origin.