VISIBLEVOLUTION

biology
+
medicine

A new look at the evolution of the eye

by Stephanie Le

I
magine finding components of a human eye in a worm.
What would this tell us about eye evolution?
Opponents of natural selection have frequently
claimed the eye is too complex for Darwinian evolution to
explain. However, current research on eyes casts new light
on how they evolved. In the September 29th issue of Science,
Professor Russell Fernald in Stanford’s Department of
Biological Sciences reviews how genetics is helping scientists
illuminate the evolution of eyes.
spherical to allow their eyes to focus in water. So both eyes
converged on the same function along similar paths, despite
having independently evolved.
Focusing on the Retina
In different substances, such as water and air, light bends
in distinct ways. Furthermore, light comes in different
wavelengths and polarizations. All these properties have
limited how eyes can work. Given these physical constraints,

Envisioning the Eye

“Eye evolution has “Light is so important, it has driven selection.” - Fernald
interested scientists
ever since Darwin because the eye is such a complex organ,” it was once thought that vertebrate and invertebrate eyes
Fernald says. Indeed the eye’s function can be overwhelming. evolved from a common ancestral eye. However, evidence
The simplest analogy would be to compare your eye to a now indicates that vertebrate and invertebrate eyes actually
camera. When you look at an object, it reflects light that evolved independently.
enters your eye and is focused by the lens in your eye onto Genetic sequencing has shown that there were two closely
your “film,” or retina. The cells of your retina transduce related opsins, proteins responsible for transduction, in the
(convert) these light rays into neural signals that travel along last common ancestor of the vertebrates and invertebrates.
the optic nerve to your “development center”, or brain. One of the opsins became the foundation of the vertebrate
As complex as this pathway sounds, most animals have a retina, while the other became the foundation of the
way of doing it. What has puzzled scientists for decades is invertebrate retina. However, both opsins still function in
just how eyes have evolved to accommodate vastly different both types of animals today. Vertebrate eyes have invertebrate
environments. opsins in their retina; likewise, invertebrates have vertebrate
opsins in their brain. Imagine that: human proteins working
Converging to Similar Solutions in the brain of a worm!
“Light is so important, it has driven selection,” Fernald
said. Nevertheless, despite the huge variety of environments Seeing is Believing
animals live in, from air to water to underground, only eight “It’s a totally new way of thinking about the visual
major types of eyes exist. This is because the physics of light system,” says Fernald. Darwin himself wrote in The Origin
has constrained the evolution of optics so that vastly different of Species that explaining eye evolution through natural
species have independently developed the same solutions selection would be challenging. Approaching the task with
Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health —a process known as genetics makes natural selection a verifiable explanation
convergent evolution. for eye evolution. While much about the eye remains to be
Consider fish and discovered, ongoing research promises to shed light on the
Retina
Lens cephalopods such as mysteries of vision. S
octopi. Their eyes evolved
independently about 260 STEPHANIE LE is a junior majoring in Biological Sciences. Her passions
million years after the range from music to African cichlids to layout design. She also enjoys
animals had separated chocolate and stalking squirrels with her camera (occasionally at the
Optic from their last common same time).
nerve
ancestor. Fish construct
their lens from a single To Learn More:
type of tissue, whereas
Visit the departmental website of Dr. Russell Fernald
octopi make theirs from
http://www.stanford.edu/group/fernaldlab/index.shtml
two types of tissue.
The human lens focuses light, reflected by
objects, onto the retina. Retinal cells then
However, because both
Read “Casting a Genetic Light on the Evolution of Eyes”
transduce the light into neural signals carried live underwater, the
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/313/5795/1914
by the optic nerve to the brain. resulting lenses are both
22 stanford scientific layout design: Stephanie Le