New insights into treating inherited eye diseases and blindness have been gained, by researchers in Ireland, studying vision problems in zebrafish.

Diseases affecting the retina – the part of the eye responsible for detecting light and converting it into signals to the brain – can often lead to severe vision loss or blindness, if left untreated.

Often these diseases can be inherited and caused by mutations in genes, although it is not always clear how this leads to loss of sight.  

To address this, researchers at EARA member University College Dublin (UCD), generated mutations at random in the zebrafish genome, before analysing which fish showed characteristics of blindness.

The team saw that zebrafish specifically with a mutation in a gene called Emc1 had abnormally shaped eye cells and were not able to process light as effectively, highlighting the important role of EMC1 in retinal health. 

Tess McCann, at UCD, said: “[Zebrafish are] an extremely useful tool for studying eye diseases and finding new treatments. Our research shows the vital role of Emc1 in vision and lays the groundwork for exploring potential solutions to its dysfunction.”