US EditionApple Snails Regrow Functional Eyes in Under a Month, Study Finds
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI AND DAVIS, CALIFORNIA, AUG 6 – Apple snails regenerate functional eyes in 28 days using genes like pax6, offering a new model to study treatments for human eye diseases such as macular degeneration, researchers say.
- Alice Accorsi and colleagues reported on August 6, 2025, that apple snails can fully regrow functional eyes within about 28 days after amputation in a study published in Nature Communications.
- This research builds on knowledge that apple snails have camera-type eyes anatomically similar to humans and possess the pax6 gene essential for eye development, which vertebrates also share.
- The team used genome editing tools to produce snails with stable gene variations and tracked about 9,000 genes becoming active at different stages of regeneration, starting immediately after wound healing within 24 hours.
- Accorsi said, "We now have a list of candidate genes" to disrupt and test for their role in regeneration, noting the process occurs in four stages from wound healing to maturation of eye components.
- This model system offers a novel way to understand sensory organ regeneration mechanisms, which could one day inform therapies to repair human eye injuries and degenerative diseases.
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