Convergent evolution happens when two different species of animals evolve the same trait simultaneously. According to a recent study by a team of Japanese researchers, squids and humans both evolved to have eyes through variation of the same gene.

Convergent evolution happens when two different species of animals evolve the same trait independently of one another.

According to a recent study by a team of Japanese researchers, the eyes of both squids and humans evolved by variation of the same ‘master control gene’.

Researchers worked together from a few institutions including the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the National Institute of Genetics, the Center for Informational Biology at Ochanomizu University, and the Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology.

They identified several splicing variants of the Pax6 RNA gene as the one responsible for the evolution of the camera eye, which is the type of eye shared by humans and cephalopods like squids.

Giant squids might have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, with some measuring around ten and a half inches across, comparable to the size of a basketball.

Splicing of an RNA gene happens when a piece of the middle code is removed and the two ends are put back together, causing the variations that resulted in the convergent evolution of eyes.

Remarkably, as the Pax6 RNA gene evolved in multiple species separately including those of human vertebrates and cephalopods, it arose from a common ancestor around 500 million years ago during the Cambrian period.