A
tiny, eyeless, roundworm that lives underground can see the light.
Research
reported online July 6 in Nature
Neuroscience identifies several nerve cells that appear to act as the
worm’s light receptors and elucidates how these light-sensitive cells pass
environmental information to the worm.
It
turns out that the lowly roundworm trips the light fantastic via a cellular
messaging system that is similar to the light-sensing pathway in vertebrates.
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