Nematostella vectensis exemplifies the exceptional expansion and diversity of opsins in the eyeless Hexacorallia.

Background: Opsins are the primary proteins responsible for light detection in animals. Cnidarians (jellyfish, sea anemones, corals) have diverse visual systems that have evolved in parallel with bilaterians (squid, flies, fish) for hundreds of millions of years. Medusozoans (e.

Cephalopod retinal development shows vertebrate-like mechanisms of neurogenesis.

Coleoid cephalopods, including squid, cuttlefish, and octopus, have large and complex nervous systems and high-acuity, camera-type eyes. These traits are comparable only to features that are independently evolved in the vertebrate lineage. The size of animal nervous systems and the diversity of their constituent cell types is a result of the tight regulation of cellular proliferation and differentiation in development.

Co-option of the limb patterning program in cephalopod eye development.

Background: Across the Metazoa, similar genetic programs are found in the development of analogous, independently evolved, morphological features. The functional significance of this reuse and the underlying mechanisms of co-option remain unclear. Cephalopods have evolved a highly acute visual system with a cup-shaped retina and a novel refractive lens in the anterior, important for a number of sophisticated behaviors including predation, mating, and camouflage.

N-Ethylmaleimide-Sensitive Factor b (nsfb) Is Required for Normal Pigmentation of the Zebrafish Retinal Pigment Epithelium.

Purpose: Despite the number of albinism-causing mutations identified in human patients and animal models, there remain a significant number of cases for which no mutation has been identified, suggesting that our understanding of melanogenesis is incomplete. Previously, we identified two oculocutaneous albinism mutations in zebrafish, au13 and au18. Here, we sought to identify the mutated loci and determine how the affected proteins contribute to normal pigmentation of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE).

snow white, a zebrafish model of Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome type 5.

Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome (HPS) is a set of genetically heterogeneous diseases caused by mutations in one of nine known HPS genes. HPS patients display oculocutaneous hypopigmentation and bleeding diathesis and, depending on the disease subtype, pulmonary fibrosis, congenital nystagmus, reduced visual acuity, and platelet aggregation deficiency. Mouse models for all known HPS subtypes have contributed greatly to our understanding of the disease, but many of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying HPS remain unknown.

An ENU mutagenesis screen in zebrafish for visual system mutants identifies a novel splice-acceptor site mutation in patched2 that results in Colobomas.

Purpose: To identify recessive mutations affecting development and/or maintenance of the zebrafish visual system.

Methods: A three-generation ENU (N-Nitroso-N-ethylurea)-based forward genetic screen was performed. F3 embryos were screened visually from 1 to 5 days postfertilization (dpf) for ocular abnormalities, and 5 dpf embryos were fixed and processed for cryosectioning, after which eye sections were screened for defects in cellular organization within the retina, lens, and cornea.