云南大学徐星课题组取得一项新突破。他们的最新研究提出了寒武纪最早的脊椎动物的四种照相机型眼睛。相关论文于2026年1月21日发表于国际顶尖学术期刊《自然》杂志上。

在这里，研究小组描述了位于两种myllokunmingids（已知最早的脊椎动物化石）侧眼之间的两个色素特征(大约518百万年前)，并将其解释为松果体/旁松果体器官。在这两种myllokunmingid物种中，松果体复合体含有丰富的含黑色素的黑素体，与侧眼视网膜色素上皮中的黑素体相同，同时具有独特的、规则的卵形结构，被解释为晶状体。他们的研究结果表明，myllokunmingids的侧眼和松果体复合体可能是具有成像能力的照相机型眼睛。因此，该课题组研究人员提出它们的照相机型眼睛代表了一种祖先脊椎动物的特征，证实了关于眼睛与松果体复合体之间深层同源性的假设。

据悉，脊椎动物的视觉主要由一对侧面成像的照相机式眼睛来调节，在非哺乳动物的脊椎动物中，由作为感光和/或内分泌器官的背侧松果体复合体（松果体和顶旁器官）来补充。松果体复合体与侧眼具有共同的遗传和胚胎学基础，均源于间脑发育过程中的外翻。尽管人们普遍认为松果体是冠状脊椎动物的“第三只眼睛”，但人们对早期脊椎动物的松果体复合体的性质及其可能具有的视觉能力仍不甚了解。

附：英文原文

Title: Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates from the Cambrian Period

Author: Lei, Xiangtong, Zhang, Sihang, Cong, Peiyun, Vinther, Jakob, Gabbott, Sarah, Wei, Fan, Xu, Xing

Issue&Volume: 2026-01-21

Abstract: Vertebrate vision is mainly accommodated by a pair of lateral image-forming camera-type eyes and is supplemented in non-mammalian vertebrates by a dorsal pineal complex (pineal and parapineal organs) functioning as photoreceptive and/or endocrine organs1. The pineal complex shares a common genetic and embryological basis with the lateral eyes, both derived from evaginations during the development of diencephalon2. Despite being widely heralded as the ‘third eye’ in crown vertebrates3, the nature of the pineal complex and its presumed visual capability in early vertebrates2 remain unknown. Here we describe two pigmented features situated between the lateral eyes in two species of myllokunmingids, the earliest known fossil vertebrates (approximately 518million years ago), and interpret these as pineal/parapineal organs. In both myllokunmingid species, the pineal complex contains abundant melanin-containing melanosomes identical to those in the retinal pigment epithelium in the lateral eyes, together with a distinctive, regularly ovoid structure interpreted as a lens. Our results indicate that the lateral eyes and pineal complex in myllokunmingids probably functioned as camera-type eyes capable of image formation. Thus, we propose that the four camera-type eyes represent an ancestral vertebrate character, corroborating hypotheses about the deep homology between the eyes and pineal complex.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09966-0

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09966-0