Abstract
The intrinsic and extrinsic factors that regulate vertebrate photoreceptor specification and differentiation are complex, and our understanding of all the players is far from complete. Her9, the zebrafish ortholog of human HES4, is a basic helix-loop-helix-orange transcriptional repressor that regulates neurogenesis in several developmental contexts. We have previously shown that her9 is upregulated during chronic rod photoreceptor degeneration and regeneration in adult zebrafish, but little is known about the role of her9 during retinal development. To better understand the function of Her9 in the retina, we generated zebrafish her9 CRISPR mutants. Her9 homozygous mutants displayed striking retinal phenotypes, including decreased numbers of rods and red/green cones, whereas blue and UV cones were relatively unaffected. The reduction in rods and red/green cones correlated with defects in photoreceptor subtype lineage specification. The remaining rods and double cones displayed abnormal outer segments, and elevated levels of apoptosis. In addition to the photoreceptor defects, her9 mutants also possessed a reduced proliferative ciliary marginal zone, and decreased and disorganized Müller glia. Mutation of her9 was larval lethal, with no mutants surviving past 13 days post fertilization. Our results reveal a previously undescribed role for Her9/Hes4 in photoreceptor differentiation, maintenance, and survival.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-9-2020
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68172-2
Funding Information
This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01EY021769, to A.C.M.) and the University of Kentucky Lyman T. Johnson graduate fellowship (to C.E.C).
Related Content
Correction to this article is available for download as an additional file listed at the end of this record.
Repository Citation
Coomer, Cagney E.; Wilson, Stephen G.; Titialii-Torres, Kayla F.; Bills, Jessica D.; Krueger, Laura A.; Petersen, Rebecca A.; Turnbaugh, Evelyn M.; Janesch, Eden L.; and Morris, Ann C., "Her9/Hes4 Is Required for Retinal Photoreceptor Development, Maintenance, and Survival" (2020). Biology Faculty Publications. 191.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/biology_facpub/191
Supplementary information
Author-Correction.pdf (726 kB)
Author Correction
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Scientific Reports, v. 10, issue 1, article no. 11316.
© The Author(s) 2020
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.