ArticleNature2015
Eye-like ocelloids are built from different endosymbiotically acquired components.
Article in Nature, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 102 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evolution of complex organelles in ocelloid-bearing dinoflagellates.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
- Magnetoreception in a freshwater ciliate arises from endosymbiosis.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Unraveling a Receptor-Mediated Bioluminescence Signaling Pathway in Red Tide Algae.Journal of molecular biology · 2025Article
- Some Insights into the Inventiveness of Dinoflagellates: Coming Back to the Cell Biology of These Protists.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Artificial and biological supports are different for pea plants.Plant signaling & behavior · 2024Article
- Adaptations and metabolic evolution of myzozoan protists across diverse lifestyles and environments.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2024Review
- New plastids, old proteins: repeated endosymbiotic acquisitions in kareniacean dinoflagellates.EMBO reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Algal Ocelloids and Plant Ocelli.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- A light-sensing system in the common ancestor of the fungi.Current biology : CB · 2022Review
- Towards the Idea of Molecular Brains.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Bioluminescence and Photoreception in Unicellular Organisms: Light-Signalling in a Bio-Communication Perspective.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Biophotonic probes for bio-detection and imaging.Light, science & applications · 2021Review
- Individuality, self and sociality of vascular plants.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Origins of eukaryotic excitability.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Review
- Carotenoids in the eyespot apparatus are required for triggering phototaxis in Euglena gracilis.The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · 2020Article
- Exposure to Artificial Light at Night and the Consequences for Flora, Fauna, and Ecosystems.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2020Review
- Flexible control of movement in plants.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Omics Analysis for Dinoflagellates Biology Research.Microorganisms · 2019Review
- Dinoflagellate nucleus contains an extensive endomembrane network, the nuclear net.Scientific reports · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Multicellularity is often considered a prerequisite for morphological complexity, as seen in the camera-type eyes found in several groups of animals. A notable exception exists in single-celled eukaryotes called dinoflagellates, some of which have an eye-like 'ocelloid' consisting of subcellular analogues to a cornea, lens, iris, and retina. These planktonic cells are uncultivated and rarely encountered in environmental samples, obscuring the function and evolutionary origin of the ocelloid. Here we show, using a combination of electron microscopy, tomography, isolated-organelle genomics, and single-cell genomics, that ocelloids are built from pre-existing organelles, including a cornea-like layer made of mitochondria and a retinal body made of anastomosing plastids. We find that the retinal body forms the central core of a network of peridinin-type plastids, which in dinoflagellates and their relatives originated through an ancient endosymbiosis with a red alga. As such, the ocelloid is a chimaeric structure, incorporating organelles with different endosymbiotic histories. The anatomical complexity of single-celled organisms may be limited by the components available for differentiation, but the ocelloid shows that pre-existing organelles can be assembled into a structure so complex that it was initially mistaken for a multicellular eye. Although mitochondria and plastids are acknowledged chiefly for their metabolic roles, they can also be building blocks for greater structural complexity.
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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.