PUBLICATION

Two zebrafish mutants, ebony and ivory, uncover benefits of neighborhood on photoreceptor survival

Authors
Goldsmith, P., Baier, H., and Harris, W.A.
ID
ZDB-PUB-031111-2
Date
2003
Source
Journal of neurobiology   57(3): 235-245 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Baier, Herwig, Harris, William A.
Keywords
zebrafish, photoreceptor, differentiation, degeneration, survival
MeSH Terms
  • Alkylating Agents/toxicity
  • Animals
  • Apoptosis/physiology*
  • Blindness/chemically induced
  • Cell Communication/physiology
  • Chimera
  • Ethylnitrosourea/toxicity
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • In Situ Nick-End Labeling
  • Mutation
  • Photoreceptor Cells/pathology*
  • Photoreceptor Cells/physiology*
  • Retinal Degeneration/genetics*
  • Retinal Degeneration/physiopathology
  • Zebrafish/physiology*
PubMed
14608660 Full text @ J. Neurobiol.
Abstract
Zebrafish offer a tractable system for the study of retinal development and degeneration, to provide insights into human retinal degeneration. We have begun to dissect the question of neighborhood effects on photoreceptor differentiation and survival through the isolation and characterization of mutants with retinal degeneration. We describe two mutants, ebony and ivory, isolated through a behavioral screen for blind mutants induced by ethyl nitrosourea mutagenesis. Chimeric analysis was conducted to attempt to rescue the photoreceptor degeneration. In ebony, the photoreceptor cell death was both cell autonomous and nonautonomous in nature, whilst the photoreceptor cell death was strikingly nonautonomous in ivory. The rescue at a distance is in keeping with a putative diffusible survival factor. We propose a density-dependent nonautonomous neighborhood effect to explain these findings.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping