Li Wei
Retinal Neurophysiology Section, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, USA.
Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2020 Oct;106:127-134. doi: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2020.06.005. Epub 2020 Jun 24.
The great evolutionary biologist, Theodosius Dobzhansky, once said, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." Vision, no doubt, is a poster child for the work of evolution. If it has not already been said, I would humbly add that "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the context of metabolism." Marrying these two thoughts together, when one chooses an animal model for vision research, the ground squirrel jumps out immediately for its unique cone dominant retina, which has evolved for its diurnal lifestyle, and for hibernation-an adaptation to unique metabolic challenges encountered during its winter sojourn.
伟大的进化生物学家西奥多修斯·多布赞斯基曾说过：“生物学中没有任何东西是有意义的，除非从进化的角度去看。”毫无疑问，视觉是进化成果的典型代表。如果还没有人这么说过，我想冒昧补充一点：“生物学中没有任何东西是有意义的，除非放在新陈代谢的背景下去看。”将这两种观点结合起来，当人们为视觉研究选择一种动物模型时，地松鼠会立刻脱颖而出，因为它独特的以视锥细胞为主的视网膜，这种视网膜是为其昼行性生活方式以及冬眠——一种对其冬季栖息期间遇到的独特代谢挑战的适应——而进化出来的。
