Invertebrate and Vertebrate Eye Development

Vision is our primary sensory modality, and we are naturally curious as to how the visual system assembles. The visual system is in many ways remarkably simple, a repeating assemblage of neurons and support cells that parse the visual field through precision and redundancy. Through this simplicity the eye has often led the way in our exploration of how an organ is assembled. Eye development has therefore long been a favorite for exploring mechanisms of cell fate choice, patterning and cell signaling.

This volume, which is part of the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series, highlights the exceptional advances over the past 20 years. Chapters emphasize our knowledge of transcription factors and how these generate networks to direct the eye field and associated structures. Topics such as cell fate specification are also explored, along with the potential of Drosophila as a model for lens formation and the progress made in using the Drosophila eye to examine planar cell polarity.

Review of our current state of knowledge

Chapters written by authors with a new generation approach that takes a more systems approach to identifying factors and better defines cell subtypes

1. Retinal Determination: The Beginning of Eye Development

Justin P. Kumar

2. Eye Field Specification in Xenopus laevis

Michael E. Zuber

1. Eye Morphogenesis and Patterning of the Optic Vesicle

Sabine Fuhrmann

2. Two themes on the assembly of the Drosophila eye

Sujin Bao

3. Building a Fly Eye: Terminal Differentiation Events of the Retina, Corneal Lens, and Pigmented Epithelia

Charlton-Perkins M and Cook TA

4. Retinal Progenitor Cells, Differentiation and Barriers to Cell Cycle Re-Entry

Denise M. Davis and Michael A. Dyer

7. Planar Cell Polarity Signaling in the Drosophila Eye

Andreas Jenny

8. Generating specific synaptic connections between the eyes and the brain

Nicko J. Josten and Andrew D. Huberman