The relationship between eye morphogenesis and brain development

身体中的每个器官在发育过程中都呈现出特定的形状，并呈现出正确的形状。 形状对器官功能至关重要。这里提出的研究探讨了这一复杂的过程 使用脊椎动物的眼睛作为模型系统。建立一个适当的形状， 发育对眼睛的功能至关重要，而发育偏差会导致变化， 在形式上导致人类眼睛结构缺陷和视觉损伤。虽然许多基因， 这些缺陷背后的原因已经被确定，但对遗传变异是如何被发现的知之甚少。 导致细胞行为的改变，从而导致这些结构缺陷。该提案使用 作为一个模型系统来检查遗传和 眼睛形态发生中自然发生的偏差的细胞基础。a.墨西哥存在于两个 形式，一个有视力的，表面居住的形式和一个盲目的，洞穴居住的形式，最初发展小 随后退化的眼睛。洞穴鱼的眼睛显示不同的形状， 与水面鱼类相比， 这些差异的根源。此外，洞穴鱼的大脑与水面鱼有显著的不同， 大脑，提供了一个机会来调查发育中的眼睛和 大脑发育。眼睛是如何呈现出正确的形状的，这是如何影响眼睛的结构的。 大脑，以及自然遗传变异在细胞水平上对这些过程的影响， 利用基因编辑和转基因技术，结合实时成像和 建立脑图谱。此外，由于眼睛形态发生的过程是高度保守的， 在物种之间，这些研究可能会进一步了解结构性眼睛缺陷是如何在人类中产生的。 人类发生。

Each organ in the body assumes a specific shape during development, and assuming the correct shape is critical for organ function. The research proposed here examines this complex process using the vertebrate eye as a model system. Establishment of an appropriate shape during development is critical to function of the eye, and developmental deviations that cause in changes in form result in structural eye defects in humans and visual impairments. While many genes that underlie these defects have been identified, much less is known about how genetic variation results in changes to cellular behaviors that lead to these structural defects. This proposal uses the blind Mexican cavefish Astyanax mexicanus as a model system to examine the genetic and cellular basis of naturally occurring deviations in eye morphogenesis. A. mexicanus exists in two forms, a sighted, surface-dwelling form and a blind, cave-dwelling form that initially develops small eyes that subsequently degenerate. Cavefish eyes display differences in shape during development compared to surface fish, allowing for the examination of the cellular mechanisms that underlie these differences. Further, cavefish brains are significantly different from surface fish brains, providing an opportunity to investigate the relationship between the developing eye and the developing brain. How the eye assumes its proper shape, how this affects the structure of the brain, and the impact of natural genetic variants, at a cellular level, on these processes will be examined utilizing gene editing and transgenesis techniques, combined with live-imaging and an established brain atlas. Further, because the process of eye morphogenesis is highly conserved between species, these studies may further our understanding how structural eye defects in humans occur.