Flatworms still 'see' even after losing their heads

• Autores: Aylin Woodward
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3137, 2017, pág. 11
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The flatworm (Schmidtea mediterranea) is a light-averse creature known for its ability to regrow lost body parts. Akash Gulyani at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in Bangalore, India, and his colleagues wanted to learn more about its vision. First, they confirmed that the two eyespots on its head encourage it to move away from light in the visible spectrum. Next, they explored how it responded to light when headless. It turned out that the flatworms still reacted, but to ultraviolet rather than visible light. This suggests that flatworms have evolved two independent ways to respond to light, say the researchers--one controlled by the eyespots and brain, and the other a body-wide reflex that involves neither. Existing evidence suggests that a protein called TRPA1 maybe implicated in that reflex, but the exact details are not yet clear