First published online July 27, 2006
Development 133, 1605e (2006)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Shedding light on a blind spot
The optic disc (often called the `blind spot') is where optic fibres
converge and leave the retina, and, on
p. 3179, Bovolenta
and co-workers shed light on its formation. It develops from the edges of a
groove (called the optic fissure) at the ventral pole of the rudimentary eye,
and its position is determined by the juncture of two distinct regions of the
optic fissure - the retinal fissure and the optic groove. Having found that
retinal fissure precursors express a unique combination of markers (including
PAX2), the researchers studied these precursors in mice that lack BMP7. This
analysis revealed that BMP7 is required for the specification of retinal
fissure precursors and that it regulates their subsequent proliferation and
apoptosis. SHH, they report, is also required for retinal fissure precursor
maintenance during development. And because the microphthalmic (small eye)
phenotype of BMP7-null mice resembles a rare congenital disease in
humans, the authors also speculate on the role of BMP7 in this type of
abnormality.
Related articles in Development:
- Proper patterning of the optic fissure requires the sequential activity of BMP7 and SHH
- Julian Morcillo, Juan Ramon Martínez-Morales, Françoise Trousse, Yasmin Fermin, Jane C. Sowden, and Paola Bovolenta
Development 2006 133: 3179-3190.
[Abstract]
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