Light modulated cnidocyte discharge predates the origins of eyes in Cnidaria.

ABSTRACT: Complex biological traits often originate by integrating previously separate parts, but the organismal functions of these precursors are challenging to infer. If we can understand the ancestral functions of these precursors, it could help explain how they persisted and how they facilitated the origins of complex traits. Animal eyes are some of the best studied complex traits, and they include many parts, such as opsin-based photoreceptor cells, pigment cells, and lens cells. Eye evolution is understood through conceptual models that argue these parts gradually came together to support increasingly sophisticated visual functions. Despite the well-accepted logic of these conceptual models, explicit comparative studies to identify organismal functions of eye precursors are lacking. Here, we i

SUBMITTER: Picciani N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8093662 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature