No evidence for age-related alterations in the marmoset retina.

The physiological aging process of the retina is accompanied by various and sometimes extensive changes: Macular degeneration, retinopathies and glaucoma are the most common findings in the elderly and can potentially lead to irreversible visual disablements up to blindness. To study the aging process and to identify possible therapeutic targets to counteract these diseases, the use of appropriate animal models is mandatory. Besides the most commonly used rodent species, a non-human primate, the common marmoset () emerged as a promising animal model of human aging over the last years.

Eye-Transcriptome and Genome-Wide Sequencing for Scolecophidia: Implications for Inferring the Visual System of the Ancestral Snake.

Molecular genetic data have recently been incorporated in attempts to reconstruct the ecology of the ancestral snake, though this has been limited by a paucity of data for one of the two main extant snake taxa, the highly fossorial Scolecophidia. Here we present and analyze vision genes from the first eye-transcriptomic and genome-wide data for Scolecophidia, for Anilios bicolor, and A. bituberculatus, respectively.

Author Correction: Cryptochrome 1 in Retinal Cone Photoreceptors Suggests a Novel Functional Role in Mammals.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Magnetoreception: activation of avian cryptochrome 1a in various light conditions.

The avian magnetic inclination compass is based on radical pair processes, with cryptochrome (Cry) assumed to form the crucial radical pairs; it requires short-wavelength light from UV to green. Under high-intensity narrow-band lights and when yellow light is added, the magnetic compass is disrupted: migratory birds no longer prefer their migratory direction, but show other orientation responses. The candidate receptor molecule Cry1a is located in the shortwavelength-sensitive SWS1 cone photoreceptors in the retina.

The rod signaling pathway in marsupial retinae.

The retinal rod pathway, featuring dedicated rod bipolar cells (RBCs) and AII amacrine cells, has been intensely studied in placental mammals. Here, we analyzed the rod pathway in a nocturnal marsupial, the South American opossum Monodelphis domestica to elucidate whether marsupials have a similar rod pathway. The retina was dominated by rods with densities of 338,000-413,000/mm².