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Eye for an Eye: A Comparative Account on Compound Eye of Drosophila melanogaster with Vertebrate Eye

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Molecular Genetics of Axial Patterning, Growth and Disease in Drosophila Eye

Abstract

A majesty of evolution encompasses in diversity of the types of eyes known today. Out of all organisms, only a bit over 30 different phyla possess sophisticated eyes. Stating that, rest of the animals are not blind. There could be camera type, or compound eyes, or mirror-like eyes, all different from one another in several aspects, still performing more or less the same function. Even though there are several differences, there are striking similarities as well in all diverse animal life forms. After Ramon y Cajal observed striking similarities between vertebrate and insect retinas, over a century ago, newer research keeps adding to the account with the help of cutting edge technology. Today, we know for the fact that there are more similarities than one can think into visual systems of insects and vertebrates. Of all invertebrate model systems, Drosophila melanogaster stands apart; for, it shares a high degree of genetic conservation and less redundancy. Shorter life span, ease of culture, and availability of wide variety of genetic tools are other benefits which make Drosophila melanogaster a great model system. In this chapter, we shall be providing a comparative account on the compound eye of Drosophila melanogaster with that of camera type eye of vertebrates, in terms of development, structure, and physiology.

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Acknowledgement

Authors would like to thank Ms. Tripti Misra for arranging and commenting on the manuscript, in addition to Mr. Bhavsar to help with figure drawings. We apologize to the authors and publications that we could not include in our references.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Pilani, Rajasthan, India

    Arushi Rai, Sonia Narwal, Harsh Kanodia & Meghana Tare

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  1. Arushi Rai
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  2. Sonia Narwal
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  3. Harsh Kanodia
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  4. Meghana Tare
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Correspondence to Meghana Tare .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA

    Amit Singh

  2. Department of Biology Office: SC303C, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA

    Madhuri Kango-Singh

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Rai, A., Narwal, S., Kanodia, H., Tare, M. (2020). Eye for an Eye: A Comparative Account on Compound Eye of Drosophila melanogaster with Vertebrate Eye. In: Singh, A., Kango-Singh, M. (eds) Molecular Genetics of Axial Patterning, Growth and Disease in Drosophila Eye. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42246-2_12

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