How to Make an Eye: Cephalopod Eye Development and the Evolution of Complexity

Understanding the mechanisms that enable the evolution of complexity remains a difficult problem in biology. In On the Origin of Species, Darwin discussed the eye as an important context to better understand his theory of natural selection and the generation of complex phenotypes. My lab is interested in the evolution of visual systems and uses rigorous, high resolution cell and developmental analyses across extant species to better understand how novel and complex traits arise. Coleoid cephalopods (Octopus, cuttlefish and squid) have among the most acute, image-forming eyes found across animals, and little is known about the genetic, genomic and molecular mechanisms underpinning this remarkable elaboration. We have established the squid Doryteuthis pealeii as an experimentally tractable model for comparative eye development. By marrying genetics and in vivo cell biology to a phylogenetically comparative approach, we have identified developmental mechanisms underlying visual system novelties and nervous system growth and expansion. By studying the evolution and development of visual systems, we are able to leverage the diversity of life to gain a deeper understanding of basic principles of ontogeny and the emergence of complexity.

Speaker: Kirsten Koenig, University of Texas at Austin