An essential role for Radar (Gdf6a) in inducing dorsal fate in the zebrafish retina
- 17 February 2009
- journal article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Vol. 106 (7), 2236-2241
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0803202106
Abstract
Retinal ganglion cells form orderly topographic connections with the tectum, establishing a continuous neural representation of visual space. Mapping along the dorsal-ventral axis requires interactions between EphB and ephrin-B cell-surface molecules expressed as countergradients in both retina and tectum. We have discovered that the diffusible TGFss-related factor Radar (Gdf6a) is necessary and sufficient for activation of dorsal markers, such as Bmp4, Tbx5, Tbx2b, and Ephrin-B2, and suppression of the ventral marker Vax2 in the zebrafish retina. Radar mutant axons innervate only the dorsal half of the tectum, where they form a compressed retinotectal map. Wild-type cells transplanted into the dorsal retina are able to rescue the dorsal identity of nearby mutant cells. Moreover, Radar overexpression "dorsalizes" retinal ganglion cell identity in the ventral retina. We conclude that Radar is near the top of a signaling cascade that establishes dorsal-ventral positional information in the retina and controls the formation of the retinotectal map.Keywords
This publication has 42 references indexed in Scilit:
- Zebrafish bmp4 functions during late gastrulation to specify ventroposterior cell fatesDevelopmental Biology, 2007
- Pbx homeodomain proteins pattern both the zebrafish retina and tectumBMC Developmental Biology, 2007
- Targeting neural circuitry in zebrafish using GAL4 enhancer trappingNature Methods, 2007
- GDF6, a Novel Locus for a Spectrum of Ocular Developmental AnomaliesAmerican Journal of Human Genetics, 2007
- Role of Bone Morphogenic Protein 2 in Retinal Patterning and Retinotectal ProjectionJournal of Neuroscience, 2006
- Forward Genetic Analysis of Visual Behavior in ZebrafishPLoS Genetics, 2005
- Staggered cell-intrinsic timing ofath5expression underlies the wave of ganglion cell neurogenesis in the zebrafish retinaDevelopment, 2005
- Genetic dissection of the zebrafish retinal stem-cell compartmentDevelopmental Biology, 2005
- A Role for BMP Heterodimers in Roof Plate-Mediated Repulsion of Commissural AxonsNeuron, 2003
- Morpholino phenocopies of the bmp2b/swirl and bmp7/snailhouse mutationsgenesis, 2001