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First published online 3 August 2005
doi: 10.1242/dev.01960

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A bHLH transcriptional network regulating the specification of retinal ganglion cells

¹ University of Lausanne, Eye Hospital Jules Gonin and Institute for Research in Ophthalmology, 15 avenue de France, 1004 Lausanne, Switzerland
² University of Geneva, Sciences II, Biochemistry Department, 30 quai Ernest-Ansermet, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
³ Polish Academy of Sciences, Medical Research Center, Department of Endocrinology, ul. Banacha 1a, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
⁴ Medical Center of Postgraduate Education, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Marymoncka 99, 01-813 Warsaw, Poland

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: jean-marc.matter{at}biochem.unige.ch)

Accepted 28 June 2005

In the developing retina, the production of ganglion cells is dependent on the proneural proteins NGN2 and ATH5, whose activities define stages along the pathway converting progenitors into newborn neurons. Crossregulatory interactions between NGN2, ATH5 and HES1 maintain the uncommitted status of ATH5-expressing cells during progenitor patterning, and later on regulate the transition from competence to cell fate commitment. Prior to exiting the cell cycle, a subset of progenitors is selected from the pool of ATH5-expressing cells to go through a crucial step in the acquisition of a definitive retinal ganglion cell fate. The selected cells are those in which the upregulation of NGN2, the downregulation of HES1 and the autostimulation of ATH5 are coordinated with the progression of progenitors through the last cell cycle. This coordinated pattern initiates the transcription of ganglion cell-specific traits and determines the size of the ganglion cell population.

Key words: Retinogenesis, Retina patterning, Basic helix-loop-helix, Transcription, Chick embryo

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