Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Neuroscience

Feel the light

Nature volume 468, pages 900–901 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

How is light perceived? The answer that might immediately come to mind is, through the eyes. Fly larvae, however, can 'feel' light using specialized neurons embedded under the cuticle encasing their bodies. See Article p.921

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: A Drosophila larva.

CHUN HAN, UCSF

References

  1. Yau, K. W. & Hardie, R. C. Cell 139, 246–264 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Pankey, S. et al. J. Comp. Physiol. B. 180, 1205–1211 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Halford, S. et al. Curr. Biol. 19, 1396–1402 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Liu, J. et al. Nature Neurosci. 13, 715–722 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Xiang, Y. et al. Nature 468, 921–926 (2010).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Mazzoni, E. O., Desplan, C. & Blau, J. Neuron 45, 293–300 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Sprecher, S. G. & Desplan, C. Nature 454, 533–537 (2008).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Steven, D. M. Biol. Rev. Camb. Phil. Soc. 38, 204–240 (1963).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Millott, N. Symp. Zool. Soc. Lond. 23, 1–36 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Tracey, W. D. Jr, Wilson, R. I., Laurent, G. & Benzer, S. Cell 113, 261–273 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Hwang, R. Y. et al. Curr. Biol. 17, 2105–2116 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Zhong, L., Hwang, R. Y. & Tracey, W. D. Curr. Biol. 20, 429–434 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Edwards, S. L. et al. PLoS Biol. 6, e198 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Rosenzweig, M. et al. Genes Dev. 19, 419–424 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Hamada, F. N. et al. Nature 454, 217–220 (2008).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Viswanath, V. et al. Nature 423, 822–823 (2003).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Kang, K. et al. Nature 464, 597–600 (2010).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paul A. Garrity is in the Department of Biology and National Center for Behavioral Genomics, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454-9110, USA. pgarrity@brandeis.edu,

    Paul A. Garrity

Authors
  1. Paul A. Garrity
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Garrity, P. Feel the light. Nature 468, 900–901 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/468900a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/468900a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing