Albinism | EPFL Graph Search

Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and reddish pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albinos. Varied use and interpretation of the terms mean that written reports of albinistic animals can be difficult to verify. Albinism can reduce the survivability of an animal; for example, it has been suggested that albino alligators have an average survival span of only 24 hours due to the lack of protection from UV radiation and their lack of camouflage to avoid predators. It is a common misconception that all albino animals have characteristic pink or red eyes (resulting from the lack of pigment in the iris allowing the blood vessels of the retina to be visible), however this is not the case for some forms of albinism. Familiar albino animals include in-bred strains of laboratory animals (rats, mice and rabbits), but populations of naturally occurring albino animals exist in the wild, e.g. Mexican cave tetra. Albinism is a well-recognized phenomenon in molluscs, both in the shell and in the soft parts. It has been claimed by some, e.g. that albinism can occur for a number of reasons aside from inheritance, including genetic mutations, diet, living conditions, age, disease, or injury. However, this is contrary to definitions where the condition is inherited. Oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) is a clearly defined set of seven types of genetic mutations which reduce or completely prevent the synthesis of eumelanin or pheomelanin, resulting in reduced pigmentation. Type I oculocutaneous albinism (OCA1a) is the form most commonly recognised as 'albino' as this results in a complete absence of melanin in the skin, hair/fur/feathers, and pink pupils, however this has led many to assume that all albinos are pure white with pink pupils, which is not the case. In plants, albinism is characterised by partial or complete loss of chlorophyll pigments and incomplete differentiation of chloroplast membranes.

The mesoglea buffers the physico-chemical microenvironment of photosymbionts in the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea sp.

Anders Meibom, Niclas Heidelberg Lyndby, Michael Kühl

IntroductionThe jellyfish Cassiopea has a conspicuous lifestyle, positioning itself upside-down on sediments in shallow waters thereby exposing its photosynthetic endosymbionts (Symbiodiniaceae) to light. Several studies have shown how the photosymbionts b ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2023

From the Cover: Zebrafish Larvae Are Insensitive to Stimulation by Cocaine: Importance of Exposure Route and Toxicokinetics

Kristin Schirmer, Julita Maria Stadnicka-Michalak

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae have been suggested as vertebrate model to complement or even replace mammals for rapidly assessing behavioral effects of psychoactive drugs. Yet, divergent responses have been reported in mammals and fish despite the conserv ...

Oxford Univ Press2016

Multiple scanning electrochemical microscopy mapping of tyrosinase in micro-contact printed fruit samples on polyvinylidene fluoride membrane

Hubert Girault, Andreas Stephan Lesch, Liang Qiao, Fernando Cortes Salazar, Tzu-En Lin, Alexandra Bondarenko

Herein, we introduce three orthogonal and compatible methods for detecting tyrosinase, a key factor in fruit browning and skin disorders, with high spatial resolution by means of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). All methods are performed subsequ ...

Elsevier2015