A New Model Organism to Investigate Extraocular Photoreception: Opsin and Retinal Gene Expression in the Sea Urchin Paracentrotus lividus.

ABSTRACT: Molecular research on the evolution of extraocular photoreception has drawn attention to photosensitive animals lacking proper eye organs. Outside of vertebrates, little is known about this type of sensory system in any other deuterostome. In this study, we investigate such an extraocular photoreceptor cell (PRC) system in developmental stages of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. We provide a general overview of the cell type families present at the mature rudiment stage using single-cell transcriptomics, while emphasizing the PRCs complexity. We show that three neuronal and one muscle-like PRC type families express retinal genes prior to metamorphosis. Two of the three neuronal PRC type families express a rhabdomeric opsin as well as an echinoderm-specific opsin (echinopsin), a

SUBMITTER: Paganos P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9454927 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature