Postembryonic development of the visual system of the locust, Schistocerca gregaria

Abstract

The visual system of the locust, Schistocerca gregaria, has a highly ordered and predictable arrangement of neurons. The retina and the outermost layer, or lamina, of the optic lobe are each composed of repeating units, ommatidia and cartridges respectively. Each ommatidium has eight photoreceptor cells, which send axons directly to a group of five neurons in the lamina to form the cartridge. The importance, for the development of this precise pattern, of the mode of growth of the two arrays and of interactions between them was investigated. The spatial and temporal sequences of cell proliferation, differentiation and death in the developing retina and optic lobe were examined quantitatively under normal and experimental conditions. The retina grows from its anterior margin by addition of new ommatidia formed from recruited epidermal cells. The lamina also grows by addition of new neurons to its anterior margin, but these neurons are derived from a stem cell population. The parallel pattern of growth of the retina and lamina may be important for the formation of neuronal connexions between them. The retina grows and differentiates even when deprived of the underlying lamina. In laminae deprived of the ingrowth of new axons from the retina, the production of new neurons is also autonomous, but these neurons do not differentiate, but degenerate. A limited amount of cell death occurs in the laminae of control insects. These two observations suggest that a plausible mechanism for coordinating the sizes of the two arrays during normal development might be production of lamina neurons in excess of requirements and death of those remaining non-innervated.