The first complete 3D reconstruction and morphofunctional mapping of an insect eye
The structure of compound eyes in arthropods has been the subject of many studies, revealing important biological principles. Until recently, these studies were constrained by the two-dimensional nature of available ultrastructural data. By taking advantage of the novel three-dimensional ultrastruct...
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2025-05-01
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/103247 |
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| author | Anastasia A Makarova Nicholas J Chua Anna V Diakova Inna A Desyatirkina Pat Gunn Song Pang C Shan Xu Harald F Hess Dmitri B Chklovskii Alexey A Polilov |
| author_facet | Anastasia A Makarova Nicholas J Chua Anna V Diakova Inna A Desyatirkina Pat Gunn Song Pang C Shan Xu Harald F Hess Dmitri B Chklovskii Alexey A Polilov |
| author_sort | Anastasia A Makarova |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The structure of compound eyes in arthropods has been the subject of many studies, revealing important biological principles. Until recently, these studies were constrained by the two-dimensional nature of available ultrastructural data. By taking advantage of the novel three-dimensional ultrastructural dataset obtained using volume electron microscopy, we present the first cellular-level reconstruction of the whole compound eye of an insect, the miniaturized parasitoid wasp Megaphragma viggianii. The compound eye of the female M. viggianii consists of 29 ommatidia and contains 478 cells. Despite the almost anucleate brain, all cells of the compound eye contain nuclei. As in larger insects, the dorsal rim area of the eye in M. viggianii contains ommatidia that are believed to be specialized in polarized light detection as reflected in their corneal and retinal morphology. We report the presence of three ‘ectopic’ photoreceptors. Our results offer new insights into the miniaturization of compound eyes and scaling of sensory organs in general. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-17655cd1c14248a6bd7a575db67f51e8 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj-art-17655cd1c14248a6bd7a575db67f51e82025-08-20T02:13:27ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-05-011410.7554/eLife.103247The first complete 3D reconstruction and morphofunctional mapping of an insect eyeAnastasia A Makarova0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8855-4128Nicholas J Chua1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6113-1296Anna V Diakova2Inna A Desyatirkina3Pat Gunn4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1863-1081Song Pang5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7231-4151C Shan Xu6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8564-7836Harald F Hess7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3000-1533Dmitri B Chklovskii8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4781-2546Alexey A Polilov9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6214-3627Department of Entomology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian FederationCenter for Computational Neuroscience, Flatiron Institute, New York, United StatesDepartment of Entomology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian FederationDepartment of Entomology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian FederationCenter for Computational Neuroscience, Flatiron Institute, New York, United StatesJanelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States; Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, United StatesJanelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States; Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, United StatesJanelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United StatesCenter for Computational Neuroscience, Flatiron Institute, New York, United States; Neuroscience Institute, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, United StatesDepartment of Entomology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian FederationThe structure of compound eyes in arthropods has been the subject of many studies, revealing important biological principles. Until recently, these studies were constrained by the two-dimensional nature of available ultrastructural data. By taking advantage of the novel three-dimensional ultrastructural dataset obtained using volume electron microscopy, we present the first cellular-level reconstruction of the whole compound eye of an insect, the miniaturized parasitoid wasp Megaphragma viggianii. The compound eye of the female M. viggianii consists of 29 ommatidia and contains 478 cells. Despite the almost anucleate brain, all cells of the compound eye contain nuclei. As in larger insects, the dorsal rim area of the eye in M. viggianii contains ommatidia that are believed to be specialized in polarized light detection as reflected in their corneal and retinal morphology. We report the presence of three ‘ectopic’ photoreceptors. Our results offer new insights into the miniaturization of compound eyes and scaling of sensory organs in general.https://elifesciences.org/articles/103247Megaphragma viggianiiTrichogrammatidaeminiaturizationvision |
| spellingShingle | Anastasia A Makarova Nicholas J Chua Anna V Diakova Inna A Desyatirkina Pat Gunn Song Pang C Shan Xu Harald F Hess Dmitri B Chklovskii Alexey A Polilov The first complete 3D reconstruction and morphofunctional mapping of an insect eye eLife Megaphragma viggianii Trichogrammatidae miniaturization vision |
| title | The first complete 3D reconstruction and morphofunctional mapping of an insect eye |
| title_full | The first complete 3D reconstruction and morphofunctional mapping of an insect eye |
| title_fullStr | The first complete 3D reconstruction and morphofunctional mapping of an insect eye |
| title_full_unstemmed | The first complete 3D reconstruction and morphofunctional mapping of an insect eye |
| title_short | The first complete 3D reconstruction and morphofunctional mapping of an insect eye |
| title_sort | first complete 3d reconstruction and morphofunctional mapping of an insect eye |
| topic | Megaphragma viggianii Trichogrammatidae miniaturization vision |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/103247 |
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