Drosophila Eye Development

1 Kevin Moses It is now 25 years since the study of the development of the compound eye in Drosophila really began with a classic paper (Ready et al. 1976). In 1864, August Weismann published a monograph on the development of Diptera and included some beautiful drawings of the developing imaginal discs (Weismann 1864). One of these is the first description of the third instar eye disc in which Weismann drew a vertical line separating a posterior domain that included a regular pattern of clustered cells from an anterior domain without such a pattern. Weismann suggested that these clusters were the precursors of the adult ommatidia and that the line marks the anterior edge of the eye. In his first suggestion he was absolutely correct - in his second he was wrong. The vertical line shown was not the anterior edge of the eye, but the anterior edge of a moving wave of patterning and cell type specification that 112 years later (1976) Ready, Hansen and Benzer would name the "morphogenetic furrow". While it is too late to hear from August Weismann, it is a particular pleasure to be able to include a chapter in this Volume from the first author of that 1976 paper: Don Ready! These past 25 years have seen an astonishing explosion in the study of the fly eye (see Fig.

The compound eye of "Drosophila" is used as a model for human disease and homology to eyes in other taxa. This book covers the major discoveries on the development of the compound eye of "Drosophila melanogaster" over the last 25 years. These include aspects of the biological mechanisms of pattern formation in the nervous system, the specification of neuronal cell types, unexpected phylogenetic conservation and many new insights into the function of several signal transduction pathways. All chapters in this book have been written by leading experts in this field who have made significant contributions to our understanding of fly eye development.

"Who would believe that so small a space could contain the images of all the universe?" Leonardo da Vinci The last years of the 20th century have found the discipline of Developmental Biology returning to its original position at the forefront of biological re search. This progress can be attributed to the burgeoning knowledge base on molecules and gene families, and to the power of the molecular genetic ap proach. Topping the list of organ systems which have provided the most significant advances would have to be the eye. The vertebrate eye was one of the classic embryologic models, used to demonstrate many important prin ciples, including the concepts of inductive tissue interactions first put forth in the early 1900s. Within the last decade of this century, a return to some of the old questions with the new approaches has put eye development back into the limelight. I find this a highly appropriate topic for a book which aims to spark research for the new millennium. We begin with a chapter that discusses the anatomy of eye development, providing the basic reference information for the chapters that follow. A novel aspect of this introduction is the connection made between develop mental strategies and the eye's optical function. What also emerges from this chapter is the number of important eye structures that have barely been touched by the modern developmental biologist. Work on cornea and ante rior chamber development has lagged behind lens and retina.

Undoubtedly, Drosophila melanogaster, fruit fly, has proved to be one of the most popular invertebrate model organisms, and the work horse for modern day biologists. Drosophila, a highly versatile model with a genetic legacy of more than a century, provides powerful genetic, cellular, biochemical and molecular biology tools to address many questions extending from basic biology to human diseases. One of the most important questions in biology focuses on how does a multi-cellular organism develop from a single-celled embryo. The discovery of the genes responsible for pattern formation has helped refine this question, and led to other questions, such as the role of various genetics and cell biological pathways in regulating the crucial process of pattern formation and growth during organogenesis. Drosophila eye model has been extensively used to study molecular genetic mechanisms involved in patterning and growth. Since the genetic machinery involved in the Drosophila eye is similar to humans, it has been used to model human diseases and homology to eyes in other taxa. This book will discuss molecular genetic mechanisms of pattern formation, mutations in axial patterning, Genetic regulation of growth in Drosophila eye, and more. There have been no titles in the past ten years covering this topic, thus an update is urgently needed.​

Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) is a highly versatile model with a genetic legacy of more than a century. It provides powerful genetic, cellular, biochemical and molecular biology tools to address many questions extending from basic biology to human diseases. One of the most important questions in biology is how a multi-cellular organism develops from a single-celled embryo. The discovery of the genes responsible for pattern formation has helped refine this question and has led to other questions, such as the role of various genetic and cell biological pathways in regulating the process of pattern formation and growth during organogenesis. The Drosophila eye model has been extensively used to study molecular genetic mechanisms involved in patterning and growth. Since the genetic machinery involved in the Drosophila eye is similar to humans, it has been used to model human diseases and homology to eyes in other taxa. This updated second edition covers current progress in the study of molecular genetic mechanisms of pattern formation, mutations in axial patterning, genetic regulation of growth, and more using the Drosophila eye as a model.