Yap and Taz regulate retinal pigment epithelial cell fate

ABSTRACT: The optic vesicle comprises a pool of bi-potential progenitor cells from which the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and neural retina fates segregate during ocular morphogenesis. Several transcription factors and signaling pathways have been shown to be important for RPE maintenance and differentiation, but an understanding of the initial fate specification and determination of this ocular cell type is lacking. We show that Yap/Taz-Tead activity is necessary and sufficient for optic vesicle progenitors to adopt RPE identity in zebrafish. A Teadresponsive transgene is expressed within the domain of the optic cup from which RPE arises, and Yap immunoreactivity localizes to the nuclei of prospective RPE cells. yap (yap1) mutants lack a subset of RPE cells and/or exhibit coloboma. Lo

ORGANISM(S): Danio rerio

SUBMITTER: Brian Link 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-71681 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress