BAKER, M.E: Albumin, Steroid Hormones, and the Origin of Vertebrates Albumin, the major serum protein, binds a wide variety of lipophilic compounds including steroids, other lipophilic hormones, phytochemicals and synthetic chemicals that bind to hormone receptors. Albumin has a low affinity for these lipophilic compounds. However, due to albumin’s high concentration in serum, albumin is […]

OAKLEY, T.H.; Univ. of California, Santa Barbara: The Tao of Eye Evolution and Development: A duplication model unifies apparently opposite resolutions of the paradox of eye evolution The evolution of eyes presents biologists with a fascinating paradox because a highly conserved developmental program gives rise to a riotous display of morphologically distinct eye types. In […]

JEFFERY, W.R.; University of Maryland: The Lens as an Organizer of Eye Development and Evolution: A View from the Blind Cavefish, Astyanax We study eye and visual development in eyed surface dwelling (surface fish) and eyeless cave dwelling (cavefish) forms of the teleost Astyanax mexicanus. Cavefish embryos form a small eye primordium, which arrests in […]

CHANG, BS; JONSSON, K; KAZMI, MA; DONOGHUE, MJ; SAKMAR, TS; Rockefeller University, New York; Rockefeller University, New York; Rockefeller University, New York; Yale University, Connecticut; Rockefeller University, New York: Recreating a Functional Ancestral Archosaur Visual Pigment Phylogenetic ancestral reconstruction methods hold much promise for probing the biochemistry and physiology of animals long vanished from the […]

CRONIN, TW; SHASHAR, N; CALDWELL, RL; CHEROSKE, AG; CHIOU, TH; UMBC; Interuniversity Institute of Eilat, Israel; UC Berkeley; UMBC; UMBC: Polarization Vision and its role in Underwater Signaling There are no natural sources of polarized light of known biological significance. Nevertheless, partially linearly polarized light is abundant in natural scenes, commonly being produced by scattering […]

PRUM, Richard O. ; University of Kansas: Phylogenetic Fourier Analyses of the Biophysics and Evolution of Avian Structural Colors The nanostructures that produce the structural colors used in intersexual communication signals provide a fascinating insight into the evolutionary consequences of visual mate preferences. There are three physical classes of coherently scattering color producing arrays: laminar, […]

JOHNSEN, S; Duke University: Mirrors or colors? Successful fashions for crypsis in the pelagic realm Mirrored and colored surfaces are common strategies for crypsis in pelagic habitats. In this study we examine the relative merits of these two forms of crypticity under different lighting regimes. Underwater radiance distributions were calculated using inherent optical properties measured […]

PIATIGORSKY, J., J.; National Institues of Health, National Eye Institute: Gene Sharing as an Evolutionary Strategy for Lens Crystallins Crystallins, the major water-soluble proteins of the lens, are well conserved but unexpectedly diverse and often differ among species. In many cases, crystallins have been recruited for their specialized role in the lens from stress proteins […]

FRIEDRICH, Markus; Wayne State University, Detroit: From lobes to discs: evolution of insect eye development Virtually everything we know about insect eye development has been gained from studying the molecular genetic workhorse Drosophila melanogaster. A large number of eye developmental genes have been identified in the fruitfly, many of which are functionally conserved across phyla. […]

KELBER, A; BALKENIUS, A; WARRANT, E J; Lund University, Lund, Sweden; Lund University, Lund, Sweden; Lund University, Lund, Sweden: Colour Vision Abilities in Sphingid Moths Humans are colour-blind at night, and this has been assumed to be true for all animals. However, colour vision is as useful for the detection and discrimination of objects at […]