Larger than Life

Often held up as one of the most extraordinary products of evolution, the eye is a remarkable piece of optical machinery. Any change to its structure is likely to interfere with vision, as exemplified by patients with buphthalmia, a condition in which the excessive growth of eye tissues causes dramatically enlarged eyeballs. This prevents light from focusing on the retina, leading to severe myopia, or short-sightedness. Researchers investigating the development of the mammalian eye recently identified a key gene in this process, LRP2, which codes for a receptor that intercepts growth signals in the eye, thus halting its expansion at the appropriate time. As shown by these eye sections, mice defective in LRP2 develop much larger eyes (left image) than do healthy individuals (right).This breakthrough contributes both to our understanding of the underlying cause of certain myopias, and to piecing together the development of an exquisitely complex organ.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

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• Image courtesy of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine
• Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany
• Copyright held by the photographer
• Research published in Developmental Cell, October 2015