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SUMMARY:Evolution of eye development in Astyanax blind cavefish - Hélène
  Hinaux 
DTSTART:20151028T130000Z
DTEND:20151028T140000Z
UID:TALK61641@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Marcia Kishida
DESCRIPTION:_Astyanax mexicanus_ is a teleost fish consisting of distinct 
 surface dwelling (surface fish) and cave-adapted (cavefish) forms. The anc
 estors of cavefish were isolated in caves less than a million-year ago and
  have since adapted to this extreme environment. Cavefish differ from thei
 r surface counterparts in numerous morphological\, physiological and behav
 ioral traits\, the most striking being that cavefish lack functional eyes 
 and are de-pigmented. This makes this fish an outstanding model for microe
 volutionary studies. \nMy PhD project aimed at understanding the loss of e
 yes in cavefish. Eyes first develop almost normally during embryogenesis\,
  but after hatching\, the lens enters apoptosis\, which triggers the progr
 essive degeneration of the entire eye. I studied the development of the le
 ns\, both its early specification and its later differentiation. Functiona
 l studies on some candidate genes allowed the identification of a major de
 fect in cavefish lens that could account for lens apoptosis. Through a mol
 ecular evolution approach\, the evolutionary forces at work during cavefis
 h eye evolution were also investigated.
LOCATION:Part II Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology
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