The evolution of vision.

Authors :: Gehring WJ
Source :: Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Developmental biology [Wiley Interdiscip Rev Dev Biol] 2014 Jan-Feb; Vol. 3 (1), pp. 1-40. Date of Electronic Publication: 2012 Dec 21.
Publication Year :: 2014
Abstract: In this review, the evolution of vision is retraced from its putative origins in cyanobacteria to humans. Circadian oscillatory clocks, phototropism, and phototaxis require the capability to detect light. Photosensory proteins allow us to reconstruct molecular phylogenetic trees. The evolution of animal eyes leading from an ancestral prototype to highly complex image forming eyes can be deciphered on the basis of evolutionary developmental genetic experiments and comparative genomics. As all bilaterian animals share the same master control gene, Pax6, and the same retinal and pigment cell determination genes, we conclude that the different eye-types originated monophyletically and subsequently diversified by divergent, parallel, or convergent evolution.<br /> (© 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)