Transient expression of LIM‐domain transcription factors is coincident with delayed maturation of photoreceptors in the chicken retina
- 7 December 2007
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Comparative Neurology
- Vol. 506 (4), 584-603
- https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.21578
Abstract
In the retina of warm‐blooded vertebrates, photoreceptors are specified many days before the onset of synaptogenesis and the expression of photopigments. The factors that regulate the maturation of photoreceptors in the developing retina remain unknown. We report here that photoreceptors transiently express LIM‐domain transcription factors during the development of the chicken retina. We examined the differentiation of photoreceptors through the normal course of embryonic development and at the far periphery of the postnatal retina, where the differentiation of photoreceptors is slowed and persists across a spatial gradient. In the embryonic retina, we find visinin‐positive photoreceptors that transiently express Islet2 and Lim3 starting at E8 and ending around E15, but persisting in far peripheral regions of the retina through the first 2 weeks of postnatal development. During early stages of photoreceptor maturation, there is coincident and transient expression of the LIM‐domain factors with axonin1, a cell surface glycoprotein that is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily. Coincident with the downregulation of Islet2 and Lim3, we find the upregulation of calbindin, red/green opsin, rhodopsin, and a synaptic marker in the outer plexiform layer (OPL; dystrophin). In the periphery of the postnatal retina, photoreceptors that express Islet2, Lim3, and axonin1 do not overlap with photoreceptors that express calbindin, red/green opsin, rhodopsin, and dystrophin. We propose that Islet2 and Lim3 may promote the expression of genes that are involved in the early stages of differentiation but may suppress the expression of genes that are required in the mature photoreceptors. J. Comp. Neurol. 506:584–603, 2008.Keywords
This publication has 77 references indexed in Scilit:
- Have we achieved a unified model of photoreceptor cell fate specification in vertebrates?Brain Research, 2008
- Patterning of the circumferential marginal zone of progenitors in the chicken retinaBrain Research, 2008
- Cone Opsin Mislocalization inRpe65−/−Mice: A Defect That Can Be Corrected by 11-cisRetinalInvestigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2005
- Roles of cell-intrinsic and microenvironmental factors in photoreceptor cell differentiationDevelopmental Biology, 2005
- Impaired Opsin Targeting and Cone Photoreceptor Migration in the Retina of Mice Lacking the Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channel CNGA3Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2005
- Impaired Channel Targeting and Retinal Degeneration in Mice Lacking the Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channel Subunit CNGB1Journal of Neuroscience, 2005
- Growth factors induce neurogenesis in the ciliary bodyDevelopmental Biology, 2003
- Differential regulation of ciliary neurotrophic factor receptor-? expression in all major neuronal cell classes during development of the chick retinaJournal of Comparative Neurology, 1998
- Axonin-1, Nr-CAM, and Ng-CAM play different roles in the in vivo guidance of chick commissural neuronsNeuron, 1995
- Visinin: A novel calcium binding protein expressed in retinal cone cellsNeuron, 1990