Fig. 1. Altered RPE differentiation in family OVE1070. Embryos, transgenic (A,C,E) and non-transgenic (B,D,F) for CPV2-FGF9 (OVE1070), were assayed for ocular pigmentation (A,B), for expression of the TRP2-lacZ transgene (C,D), and by in situ hybridization for expression of Cdh3 (P-cadherin) (E, F). OVE1070 mice were mated to a C57BL/6 partner to produce pigmented offspring. In E13.5 transgenic embryos, the dorsal RPE (rNR) lost its pigmentation and became a neural retina-like tissue (A). By contrast, the entire RPE in non-transgenic embryos was pigmented (B). When OVE1070 mice were mated with TRP2-lacZ transgenic mice, the offspring carrying both CPV2-FGF9 and TRP2-lacZ lost ß-gal activity in the dorsal presumptive RPE (rNR) at E10.5 (C). In offspring carrying TRP2-lacZ only, the entire prospective RPE expressed lacZ (D). In E12.5 OVE1070 embryos, Cdh3 (P-cadherin) expression (red) was attenuated in the dorsal presumptive RPE (rNR) (E), while in wild-type embryos, Cdh3 was expressed in the entire RPE (F). Cdh3 (P-cadherin) expression was also detected in the corneal and conjunctival epithelia in both types of embryos. D-V, dorsal-ventral orientation; L, lens; LP, lens pit; NR, neural retina; rNR, RPE-derived neural retina. Scale bars: 50 µm in C,D; 100 µm in A,B,E,F.
