BRIEF COMMUNICATION |
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Year : 2015 | Volume
: 63
| Issue : 4 | Page : 353-354 |
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No evidence for a genetic blueprint: The case of the "complex" mammalian photoreceptor
G Kumaramanickavel1, MJ Denton2, M Legge3
1 Narayana Nethralaya at Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, Karnataka; Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India 2 Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra; Dr. Tony's Superspeciality Eye Institute, Aluva, Kerala, India 3 Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, NewZealand
Correspondence Address:
Associate Prof. M Legge Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, PO BOX 56, Dunedin NewZealand
Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0301-4738.158093
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Despite the intensity of the search for genes causing inherited retinal degenerations over the past 3 decades, of the approximately 200 disease genes identified to date, all appear to be ordinary housekeeping genes specifying proteins playing basic structural and functional roles in the mature photoreceptor cells. No genes or genetic elements have been identified which can be construed as having a specific morphogenic role, directing the development of the cytoarchitecture of any particular retinal cell. The evidence suggests that the cytoarchitecture of the retinal photoreceptors, although enormously complex, arises from the self-organization of the cells constituents without any regulation or direction from an external genetic blueprint. |
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