Pathological alterations typical of human Tay-Sachs disease, in the retina of a deep-sea fish.
Micrographs of retinas from the deep-sea fish Cataetyx laticeps revealed visual cells containing membranous whorls in the ellipsoids of the inner segments resulting from stretching and modifications of the mitochondria membranes and their cristae. These pathological structures seem to be homologous to the whorls observed in retinas of human carriers of Tay-Sachs disease. This disease, a genetic disorder, is found in humans and some mammals. Our findings in fish suggest that the gene responsible can be found throughout the vertebrate evolutionary tree, possibly dormant in most taxa.
Fishelson
L
L
Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Israel. fishelv@ccsg.tau.ac.il
Delarea
Y
Y
Galil
B S
BS
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005399:Fishes / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D017948:Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012623:Seawater; D013661:Tay-Sachs Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*