Developing Models of Retinal and Eye Defects

描述（由申请人提供）：脊椎动物的眼睛和视网膜提供了重要的模型来识别发育的基本过程，如诱导、形态发生、图案化和细胞命运特化。虽然已经发现了大量描述眼睛发育早期事件的信息，但对后期分化和成熟阶段的许多过程还不太了解。例如，脊椎动物视网膜的良好表征的层状组织由每一层内的神经元的非随机或马赛克排列补充。虽然马赛克排列的必要性是直观的：神经元分布的间隙或细胞聚集会导致视野部分的代表性不足或过度采样，但对调节马赛克模式的遗传机制知之甚少。在接下来的五年里，我们提出了一种新的遗传筛选后胚胎阶段的幼虫和成年后代的ENU诱变斑马鱼，发现新的隐性和显性突变影响视觉系统。对晚发型突变的系统性筛查应该提供急需的人类遗传性疾病模型，如色素性视网膜炎、先天性白内障和青光眼。提出了三个具体目标：具体目标I：恢复新的，隐性突变，具体影响规格和马赛克图案的感光细胞通过原位免疫组化筛选杆马赛克在自由游泳，5日龄幼虫。具体目标二：通过对幼虫眼的透镜、角膜和瞳孔中缺陷的形态学筛选，确定对眼前节的发育和维持至关重要的基因。具体目标三：通过成年斑马鱼视网膜的组织学和免疫荧光分析，鉴定导致感光细胞营养不良的突变作为人类视网膜疾病的模型。最初的诱变程序和随后的育种策略将定位板并入诱变品系中，以促进更有效的定位和随后的突变基因克隆。突变表型的描述和图像将在PI的网站和斑马鱼信息网络上提供，并通过斑马鱼国际资源中心进行分发。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The vertebrate eye and retina have provided important models to identify fundamental processes of developmental such as induction, morphogenesis, patterning and cell fate specification. While a considerate amount of information describing the early events of eye development has been uncovered, many processes of later stages of differentiation and maturation are less well understood. For example, the well characterized, laminar organization of the vertebrate retina is complimented by the non-random or mosaic arrangement of neurons within each of the layers. Though the necessity of the mosaic arrangement is intuitive: gaps in the distribution of neurons or clustering of cells would result in under representation or oversampling of portions of the visual field, little is known of the genetic mechanisms regulating the mosaic patterning. Over the next five years, we propose a novel genetic screen of post-embryonic stage larvae and adult progeny of ENU-mutagenized zebrafish to uncover novel recessive and dominant mutations affecting the visual system. A systematic screen for late onset mutations should provide much needed models of inherited diseases in humans such as retinitis pigmentosa, congenital cataracts and glaucoma. Three specific aims are proposed: SPECIFIC AIM I: Recover novel, recessive mutations that specifically affect the specification and mosaic patterning of photoreceptor cells through an in situ immunohistochemical screen of the rod mosaic in free swimming, 5 day old larvae. SPECIFIC AIM II: Identify genes essential to the development and maintenance of the anterior segment, through a morphological screen for defects in the lens, cornea and pupil of the larval eye. SPECIFIC AIM III: Identify mutations resulting in photoreceptor cell dystrophies as models of human retinal disease through the histological and immunofluorescent analysis of retinas of adult zebrafish. The initial mutagenesis procedure and subsequent breeding strategy incorporated a mapping panel into the mutagenized lines to facilitate more efficient mapping and the subsequent cloning of the mutated genes. Descriptions and images of the mutant phenotypes will be available at the PI's website and the Zebrafish Information Network and distribution will be handled through the Zebrafish International Resource Center.