How to make an eye

The eye is an organ of such remarkable complexity and apparently flawless design that it presents a challenge to both evolutionary biologists trying to explain its phylogenetic origins, and developmental biologists hoping to understand its formation during ontogeny. Since the discovery that the transcription factor Pax6 plays a crucial role in specifying the eye throughout the animal kingdom, both groups of biologists have been converging on the conserved mechanisms behind eye formation. Their latest meeting was at the Instituto Juan March in Madrid, at a workshop organized by Walter Gehring (Biozentrum, Basel, Switzerland) and Emili Salo (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain), entitled 'The genetic control of eye development and its evolutionary implications'. The exchange of ideas provided some new insights into the construction and history of the eye.