Skip to main content
Advertisement

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Accepted manuscripts
    • Issue in progress
    • Latest complete issue
    • Issue archive
    • Archive by article type
    • Special issues
    • Subject collections
    • Interviews
    • Sign up for alerts
  • About us
    • About JEB
    • Editors and Board
    • Editor biographies
    • Travelling Fellowships
    • Grants and funding
    • Journal Meetings
    • Workshops
    • The Company of Biologists
    • Journal news
  • For authors
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Aims and scope
    • Presubmission enquiries
    • Article types
    • Manuscript preparation
    • Cover suggestions
    • Editorial process
    • Promoting your paper
    • Open Access
    • Outstanding paper prize
    • Biology Open transfer
  • Journal info
    • Journal policies
    • Rights and permissions
    • Media policies
    • Reviewer guide
    • Sign up for alerts
  • Contacts
    • Contact JEB
    • Subscriptions
    • Advertising
    • Feedback
  • COB
    • About The Company of Biologists
    • Development
    • Journal of Cell Science
    • Journal of Experimental Biology
    • Disease Models & Mechanisms
    • Biology Open

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Experimental Biology
  • COB
    • About The Company of Biologists
    • Development
    • Journal of Cell Science
    • Journal of Experimental Biology
    • Disease Models & Mechanisms
    • Biology Open

supporting biologistsinspiring biology

Journal of Experimental Biology

  • Log in
Advanced search

RSS  Twitter  Facebook  YouTube  

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Accepted manuscripts
    • Issue in progress
    • Latest complete issue
    • Issue archive
    • Archive by article type
    • Special issues
    • Subject collections
    • Interviews
    • Sign up for alerts
  • About us
    • About JEB
    • Editors and Board
    • Editor biographies
    • Travelling Fellowships
    • Grants and funding
    • Journal Meetings
    • Workshops
    • The Company of Biologists
    • Journal news
  • For authors
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Aims and scope
    • Presubmission enquiries
    • Article types
    • Manuscript preparation
    • Cover suggestions
    • Editorial process
    • Promoting your paper
    • Open Access
    • Outstanding paper prize
    • Biology Open transfer
  • Journal info
    • Journal policies
    • Rights and permissions
    • Media policies
    • Reviewer guide
    • Sign up for alerts
  • Contacts
    • Contact JEB
    • Subscriptions
    • Advertising
    • Feedback
Research Article
Ectopic eyes outside the head in Xenopus tadpoles provide sensory data for light-mediated learning
Douglas J. Blackiston, Michael Levin
Journal of Experimental Biology 2013 216: 1031-1040; doi: 10.1242/jeb.074963
Douglas J. Blackiston
Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology and Department of Biology, Tufts University, 200 Boston Avenue, Suite 4600, Medford, MA 02155, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Michael Levin
Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology and Department of Biology, Tufts University, 200 Boston Avenue, Suite 4600, Medford, MA 02155, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: michael.levin@tufts.edu
  • Article
  • Figures & tables
  • Info & metrics
  • PDF
Loading

SUMMARY

A major roadblock in the biomedical treatment of human sensory disorders, including blindness, has been an incomplete understanding of the nervous system and its ability to adapt to changes in sensory modality. Likewise, fundamental insight into the evolvability of complex functional anatomies requires understanding brain plasticity and the interaction between the nervous system and body architecture. While advances have been made in the generation of artificial and biological replacement components, the brain's ability to interpret sensory information arising from ectopic locations is not well understood. We report the use of eye primordia grafts to create ectopic eyes along the body axis of Xenopus tadpoles. These eyes are morphologically identical to native eyes and can be induced at caudal locations. Cell labeling studies reveal that eyes created in the tail send projections to the stomach and trunk. To assess function we performed light-mediated learning assays using an automated machine vision and environmental control system. The results demonstrate that ectopic eyes in the tail of Xenopus tadpoles could confer vision to the host. Thus ectopic visual organs were functional even when present at posterior locations. These data and protocols demonstrate the ability of vertebrate brains to interpret sensory input from ectopic structures and incorporate them into adaptive behavioral programs. This tractable new model for understanding the robust plasticity of the central nervous system has significant implications for regenerative medicine and sensory augmentation technology.

FOOTNOTES

  • FUNDING

    We are grateful for support of the National Institutes of Health (grants MH081842 to M.L., EY018168 to M.L., 5T32DE007327-09 to D.B.), the Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation and US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC, award W81XWH-10-2-0058 to M.L.). Deposited in PMC for release after 12 months.

  • © 2013. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd
View Full Text
Previous ArticleNext Article
Back to top
Previous ArticleNext Article

This Issue

Keywords

  • Vision
  • Behavior
  • Memory
  • transplantation
  • innervation
  • Plasticity
  • Frog

 Download PDF

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Journal of Experimental Biology.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Ectopic eyes outside the head in Xenopus tadpoles provide sensory data for light-mediated learning
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Journal of Experimental Biology
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Journal of Experimental Biology web site.
Share
Research Article
Ectopic eyes outside the head in Xenopus tadpoles provide sensory data for light-mediated learning
Douglas J. Blackiston, Michael Levin
Journal of Experimental Biology 2013 216: 1031-1040; doi: 10.1242/jeb.074963
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Research Article
Ectopic eyes outside the head in Xenopus tadpoles provide sensory data for light-mediated learning
Douglas J. Blackiston, Michael Levin
Journal of Experimental Biology 2013 216: 1031-1040; doi: 10.1242/jeb.074963

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Alerts

Please log in to add an alert for this article.

Sign in to email alerts with your email address

Article navigation

  • Top
  • Article
    • SUMMARY
    • INTRODUCTION
    • MATERIALS AND METHODS
    • RESULTS
    • DISCUSSION
    • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
    • FOOTNOTES
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & tables
  • Info & metrics
  • PDF

Related articles

Cited by...

More in this TOC section

  • Consequences of HSF knockdown on gene expression during the heat shock response in Tigriopus californicus
  • The integration of sensory feedback in the modulation of anuran landing preparation
  • Spectral organization of the compound eye of a migrating nymphalid, the chestnut tiger butterfly Parantica sita
Show more RESEARCH ARTICLES

Similar articles

Other journals from The Company of Biologists

Development

Journal of Cell Science

Disease Models & Mechanisms

Biology Open

Advertisement

JEB appoints new Editor-in-Chief

Craig Franklin

We are delighted to announce that Craig Franklin (University of Queensland, Australia) has been appointed as the next EiC of JEB, starting on 1 August. With research interests in animal ecophysiology and conservation physiology, Craig is already familiar with the journal, having been a Monitoring Editor since 2011. We are looking forward to welcoming him in his new role.


Seven things that shaped preLights in 2019

As 2020 gets well and truly underway, join us as we look back at seven things that shaped preLights in 2019. From launching preLists to getting nominated for an award, it was an exciting year!


Koalas climb like apes but bound like marsupials

New research by Joshua Gaschk, Celine Frère and Christofer Clemente shows that koalas bound like other marsupials when they are on the ground but they move like apes when they're climbing through branches.


An interview with Sandy Kawano

Sandy Kawano

Sandy Kawano talks in her Conversation about Rick Blob helping her to find her inner palaeontologist and the tough decision she had to make when her dream job came up at George Washington University.


The stalk-eyed fly as a model for aggression – is there a conserved role for 5-HT between vertebrates and invertebrates?

In their new Commentary, Swallow et al. propose that the role of 5-HT in modulating invertebrate aggression is more nuanced that previously appreciated.

Articles

  • Accepted manuscripts
  • Issue in progress
  • Latest complete issue
  • Issue archive
  • Archive by article type
  • Special issues
  • Subject collections
  • Interviews
  • Sign up for alerts

About us

  • About JEB
  • Editors and Board
  • Editor biographies
  • Travelling Fellowships
  • Grants and funding
  • Journal Meetings
  • Workshops
  • The Company of Biologists
  • Journal news

For Authors

  • Submit a manuscript
  • Aims and scope
  • Presubmission enquiries
  • Article types
  • Manuscript preparation
  • Cover suggestions
  • Editorial process
  • Promoting your paper
  • Open Access
  • Outstanding paper prize
  • Biology Open transfer

Journal Info

  • Journal policies
  • Rights and permissions
  • Media policies
  • Reviewer guide
  • Sign up for alerts

Contact

  • Contact JEB
  • Subscriptions
  • Advertising
  • Feedback

 Twitter   YouTube   LinkedIn

© 2020   The Company of Biologists Ltd   Registered Charity 277992