Fig. 5

A wildtype lens develops cataract when transplanted into a slc45a2 (albino) mutant background.

(A) Lens transplantation scheme. The lens derived from a transgenic wildtype line pd49Tg was used as a donor allowing identification of the slc45a2+/+ lens by expression of RFP after transplantation into mutant (albino) and wildtype (WT) host embryos. Lens transplantation was performed among stage matched donor and host embryos during 26–30 hpf. The endogenous host lens was completely removed and replaced with pd49Tg donor lens. Embryos transplanted with pd49Tg donor lenses were raised in the dark and the presence of abnormal lens reflection was examined at 4 dpf. (B,C) The stippled line demarcates the transplanted pd49Tg donor lens identified by the presence of RFP fluorescence reporter (magenta). The reflection channel is merged in gray. Note the presence of abnormal lens reflection in the transplanted lens when host embryos are slc45a2/albino mutants. The anterior chamber is oriented to the left. Scale bar: 20 μm. (D–I) Reflection signal distribution in the lens of each group is shown as a function of the reflection intensity value (x-axis; x1000, log10 scale in AU) with intensity-weighted frequency (y-axis; the product of intensity and frequency, normalized for area). The number of embryos for each group is given in each panel. Results are shown as a set of two independent experiments (D–F and G–I), each composed of donor pd49Tg non-transplanted lens (D,G), non-transplanted lens in the host (wildtype [E] and albino [H]), and the transplanted donor pd49Tg lens in WT host (F) and albino host (I). A range of reflection signals indicated by double-headed arrows (red) were considered as abnormal and used for permutation tests. 99% confidence interval of p-values is given for each indicated pair.