Evolution of eyes and photoreceptor cell types
Open accessAbstract
The evolution of the eye is a matter of debate ever since Darwin's Origin of Species. While morphological comparisons of eye anatomy and photoreceptor cell types led to the view that animal eyes evolved multiple times independently, the molecular conservation of the pax6 eye-specifying cascade has indicated the contrary - that animal eyes evolved from a common, simple precursor, the proto-eye. Morphological and molecular comparative approaches are combined here in a novel Evo-Devo approach, the molecular comparison of cell types ("comparative molecular cell biology"). In the eye, the various types of photoreceptor cells, as well as pigment and lens cells, each require distinct combinations of specifying transcription factors that control their particular differentiation programmes, such as opsin expression in photoreceptors, specific neurotransmitter metabolism, or axonal outgrowth. Comparing the molecular combinatorial codes of cell types of animal extant eyes, their evolutionary histories can be reconstructed. This is exemplified here on the evolution of ciliary and rhabdomeric photoreceptor cells in bilaterian eyes and on the evolution of cell type diversity in the vertebrate retina. I propose that the retinal ganglion, amacrine and horizontal cells are evolutionary sister cell types that evolved from a common rhabdomeric photoreceptor cell precursor.
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Drosophila eye has 10 different cells, while humans have 400, with parallel development of retinal circuitry.
“For example, whereas Drosophila melanogaster eye has 10 different cells, that number has grown to 400 in humans, with a parallel development of retinal circuitry.211−215”
From Chemistry of the Retinoid (Visual) Cycle (2014) · cites this paper as [215]
The ‘Quest for the proto-eye’ section discusses cell types in insect ommatidia and the vertebrate retina, and ‘Diversification of cell types in the vertebrate retina’ describes further retinal subtypes. Neither section gives the claimed counts of 10 in Drosophila and 400 in humans or describes a parallel development of retinal circuitry (pages unavailable in our copy). (LLM, conf=0.84)
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- Authors
- Arendt, D.
- Affiliations
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Arendt, Detlev
- ORCID
- Arendt, Detlev
- Venue
- The International Journal of Developmental Biology
- Publisher
- EHU Press
- Published
- 2003
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 7-8
- Pages
- 563-571
- ISSN
- 0214-6282 (ISSN-L)
- 1696-3547
- OpenAlex
- W26195142
- Cited by
- 430
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 3.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The International Journal of Developmental Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Retinal Development and Disorders
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Ocular Disorders and Treatments
- Keywords
- eye evolution, photoreceptors, Pax6, ciliary photoreceptors, rhabdomeric photoreceptors, retinal ganglion cells, amacrine cells, horizontal cells, opsin, transcription factors, lens cells, pigment cells, axon growth, vertebrate retina
- MeSH terms
- PAX6 Transcription Factor, Animals, Eye, Eye Proteins, Models, Biological, Repressor Proteins, Retina, Retinal Ganglion Cells, Genetic Variation, Rod Opsins, Photoreceptor Cells, Invertebrate, Homeodomain Proteins, Evolution, Molecular, Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate, Amacrine Cells, Paired Box Transcription Factors
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