ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2011
Unique system of photoreceptors in sea urchin tube feet.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers.
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Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 165 citations in OpenAlex.
- Single-nucleus profiling highlights the all-brain echinoderm nervous system.Science advances · 2025Article
- Contrasting the development of larval and adult body plans during the evolution of biphasic lifecycles in sea urchins.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2024Article
- See-Star: a versatile hydrogel-based protocol for clearing large, opaque and calcified marine invertebrates.EvoDevo · 2024Article
- More than a colour; how pigment influences colourblind microbes.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Review
- Photobehaviours guided by simple photoreceptor systems.Animal cognition · 2023Review
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- Effects of Artificial Light at Night on Fitness-Related Traits of Sea Urchin (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
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- Dynamic light filtering over dermal opsin as a sensory feedback system in fish color change.Nature communications · 2023Article
- A model of decentralized vision in the sea urchiniScience · 2023Article
- The diversity of invertebrate visual opsins spanning Protostomia, Deuterostomia, and Cnidaria.Developmental biology · 2022Review
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- Hierarchical TiNano-micro letters · 2022Article
- Rethinking Opsins.Molecular biology and evolution · 2022Article
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- Planktonic sea urchin larvae change their swimming direction in response to strong photoirradiation.PLoS genetics · 2022Article
- Developmental atlas of the indirect-developing sea urchinFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Article
- Ciliary photoreceptors in sea urchin larvae indicate pan-deuterostome cell type conservation.BMC biology · 2021Article
- Article
- Run and hide: visual performance in a brittle star.The Journal of experimental biology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Different sea urchin species show a vast variety of responses to variations in light intensity; however, despite this behavioral evidence for photosensitivity, light sensing in these animals has remained an enigma. Genome information of the recently sequenced purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) allowed us to address this question from a previously unexplored molecular perspective by localizing expression of the rhabdomeric opsin Sp-opsin4 and Sp-pax6, two genes essential for photoreceptor function and development, respectively. Using a specifically designed antibody against Sp-Opsin4 and in situ hybridization for both genes, we detected expression in two distinct groups of photoreceptor cells (PRCs) located in the animal's numerous tube feet. Specific reactivity of the Sp-Opsin4 antibody with sea star optic cushions, which regulate phototaxis, suggests a similar visual function in sea urchins. Ultrastructural characterization of the sea urchin PRCs revealed them to be of a microvillar receptor type. Our data suggest that echinoderms, in contrast to chordates, deploy a microvillar, r-opsin-expressing PRC type for vision, a feature that has been so far documented only in protostome animals. Surprisingly, sea urchin PRCs lack any associated screening pigment. Indeed, one of the tube foot PRC clusters may account for directional vision by being shaded through the opaque calcite skeleton. The PRC axons connect to the animal internal nervous system, suggesting an integrative function beyond local short circuits. Because juveniles display no phototaxis until skeleton completion, we suggest a model in which the entire sea urchin, deploying its skeleton as PRC screening device, functions as a huge compound eye.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.