Light can be sensed without eyes, find UoH researchers

A research team led by Dr Akash Gulyani from Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences at UoH found that body of planarians flatworms is dotted with a whole array of very unique light sensing cells

Hyderabad: Can the light be sensed without eyes? Yes, suggests a recent breakthrough research on tiny organisms known as planarians flatworms by researchers from the University of Hyderabad (UoH).

In a breakthrough discovery, a research team led by Dr Akash Gulyani from Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences at UoH found that the worm body is dotted with a whole array of very unique light sensing cells that are patterned all over the worm.

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These newly discovered light sensing cells appear unique as they do not resemble any neuron-like cells but are more similar to a distinct cellular class (parenchymal cells). This seems very distinct from all light sensing systems known so far across the animal kingdom.

The researchers show that the system helps intact animals respond to sudden light exposure even when the animals have gone to a sleep-like state, helping them avoid predators and danger. This is again a rare example in nature where an intact adult animal uses an eye independent system for locomotion/escape, despite possessing a sensitive visual system.

This work has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) “Discovery of a body-wide photosensory array that matures in an adult-like animal and mediates eye-brain independent movement and arousal,” by Nishan Shettigar.

This is work by the group of Dr Akash Gulyani and collaboration with Dr Dasaradhi Palakodeti, inStem Bangalore and the authors included Nishan Shettigar, Anirudh Chakravarthy, Suchitta Umashankar, Vairavan Lakshmanan, Dasaradhi Palakodeti.

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