Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 106, Issue 41, Pages 17534-17539Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0902425106
Keywords
cone; differentiation
Categories
Funding
- Hirschl Award
- National Institutes of Health [EY11115]
- Kidney Diseases
- National Eye Institute
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Rods and cones are morphologically and developmentally distinct photoreceptor types with different functions in vision. Cones mediate daylight and color vision and in most mammals express M and S opsin photopigments for sensitivity to medium-long and short light wavelengths, respectively. Rods mediate dim light vision and express rhodopsin photopigment. The transcription factor networks that direct differentiation of each photoreceptor type are incompletely defined. Here, we report that Rorb(-/-) mice lacking retinoid-related orphan nuclear receptor beta lose rods but overproduce primitive S cones that lack outer segments. The phenotype reflects pronounced plasticity between rod and cone lineages and resembles that described for Nrl(-/-) mice lacking neural retina leucine zipper factor. Rorb(-/-) mice lack Nrl expression and reexpression of Nrl in Rorb(-/-) mice converts cones to rod-like cells. Thus, Rorb directs rod development and does so at least in part by inducing the Nrl-mediated pathway of rod differentiation.
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