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Fish eyes to help understand human inherited blindness

Discovery of a gene in zebrafish that triggers congenital blindness could lead to a suitable cure for similar disease in humans. Newborns babies can be at risk of congenital blindness, presenting sight defects due to lesions or to genetic mutations in their genome.

Among the latter, Leber Congenital Amaurosis - or LCA - is one of the most widespread causes of child blindness and accounts for nearly 5% of vision impairments overall. The syndrome can be genetically transmitted to a child when both parents possess at least one dysfunctional copy of a gene involved in eye development.