PUBLICATION

Loss of Pde6a Induces Rod Outer Segment Shrinkage and Visual Alterations in pde6aQ70X Mutant Zebrafish, a Relevant Model of Retinal Dystrophy

Authors
Crouzier, L., Diez, C., Richard, E.M., Cubedo, N., Barbereau, C., Rossel, M., Delaunay, T., Maurice, T., Delprat, B.
ID
ZDB-PUB-210608-20
Date
2021
Source
Frontiers in cell and developmental biology   9: 675517 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Cubedo, Nicolas
Keywords
PDE6A, cones, photoreceptors, retinitis pigmentosa, rods, zebrafish
MeSH Terms
none
PubMed
34095146 Full text @ Front Cell Dev Biol
Abstract
Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is one of the most common forms of inherited retinal degeneration with 1/4,000 people being affected. The vision alteration primarily begins with rod photoreceptor degeneration, then the degenerative process continues with cone photoreceptor death. Variants in 71 genes have been linked to RP. One of these genes, PDE6a is responsible for RP43. To date no treatment is available and patients suffer from pronounced visual impairment in early childhood. We used the novel zebrafish pde6aQ70X mutant, generated by N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea at the European Zebrafish Resource Centre, to better understand how PDE6a loss of function leads to photoreceptor alteration. Interestingly, zebrafish pde6aQ70X mutants exhibited impaired visual function at 5 dpf as evidenced by the decrease in their visual motor response (VMR) compared to pde6aWT larvae. This impaired visual function progressed with time and was more severe at 21 dpf. These modifications were associated with an alteration of rod outer segment length at 5 and 21 dpf. In summary, these findings suggest that rod outer segment shrinkage due to Pde6a deficiency begins very early in zebrafish, progresses with time. The zebrafish pde6aQ70X mutant represents an ideal model of RP to screen relevant active small molecules that will block the progression of the disease.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Show all Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping