PUBLICATION

An essential role for Radar (Gdf6a) in inducing dorsal fate in the zebrafish retina

Authors
Gosse, N.J., and Baier, H.
ID
ZDB-PUB-090204-8
Date
2009
Source
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America   106(7): 2236-2241 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Baier, Herwig, Gosse, Nathan
Keywords
patterning, eye development, ocular coloboma, bone morphogenetic protein, tectum
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Axons/metabolism
  • Body Patterning
  • Cell Lineage
  • Codon, Terminator
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental*
  • Growth Differentiation Factor 6/genetics*
  • Growth Differentiation Factor 6/physiology*
  • Models, Biological
  • Models, Genetic
  • Mutation
  • Retina/embryology
  • Retina/metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta/metabolism
  • Zebrafish
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
  • Zebrafish Proteins/physiology*
PubMed
19164594 Full text @ Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
Abstract
Retinal ganglion cells form orderly topographic connections with the tectum, establishing a continuous neural representation of visual space. Mapping along the dorsal-ventral axis requires interactions between EphB and ephrin-B cell-surface molecules expressed as countergradients in both retina and tectum. We have discovered that the diffusible TGFbeta-related factor Radar (Gdf6a) is necessary and sufficient for activation of dorsal markers, such as Bmp4, Tbx5, Tbx2b, and Ephrin-B2, and suppression of the ventral marker Vax2 in the zebrafish retina. Radar mutant axons innervate only the dorsal half of the tectum, where they form a compressed retinotectal map. Wild-type cells transplanted into the dorsal retina are able to rescue the dorsal identity of nearby mutant cells. Moreover, Radar overexpression "dorsalizes" retinal ganglion cell identity in the ventral retina. We conclude that Radar is near the top of a signaling cascade that establishes dorsal-ventral positional information in the retina and controls the formation of the retinotectal map.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping