Flatworms muscle new eyes' wiring into their brains
If anything happens to the eyes of the tiny, freshwater-dwelling planarian Schmidtea mediterranea, they can grow them back within just a few days. How they do this is a scientific conundrum — one that Peter Reddien's lab at Whitehead Institute has been studying for years. The lab's latest project offers some insight: in a paper published in Science June 26, researchers in Reddien's lab have identified a new type of cell that likely serves as a guidepost to help route axons from the eyes to the brain as the worms complete the difficult task of regrowing their neural circuitry. Schmidtea mediterranea's eyes are composed of light-capturing photoreceptor neurons connected to the brain with long, spindly processes called axons. They use their eyes to respond to light to help navigate their environment. The worms, which are popular models for research into regeneration, can regrow pretty much any part of their body; eyes are an interesting part...