Poster presentation, P12

Official XXIst International Pigment Cell Conference website - 21-24 Sept 2011, Bordeaux - France | updated: September 04 2011

Involvement of Mitf in the development of retinal pigment epithelium and its possible regulators

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), one component of the vertebrate eye, consists of a monolayer of melanin-pigment cells. Although the RPE is known to be indispensable for adult visual function, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying its development. In the early optic cup (OC) stage, the outer layer of the OC starts differentiating into the RPE. As eye development proceeds, the characteristic phenotypes of the RPE, such as melanin pigmentation and a monolayered structure, are gradually formed in a specific spatio-temporal pattern. Although some transcription factors, such as Mitf, are thought to be essential for these processes, the detailed underlying mechanisms for the regionalization and characterization of the RPE remain to be elucidated. Mice mutant for transcription factors known to contribute to normal eye development frequently have severe eye abnormalities. In such cases, with so many complicated phenotypes, analyses focusing on RPE development are not easily carried out. To elucidate how eye-related transcription factors function during RPE development in detail, we conducted gene transfection into the chick OC by electroporation. Using that method, the transfected areas could be limited (not the whole developing eye affected) and easily controlled. The resultant eye phenotypes are not too disrupted to analyze how RPE development is affected with the transfected molecules in specific areas. Here we show that several transcription factors are able to regulate RPE regionalization and characterization by controlling the expression and function of Mitf, also a key player for RPE development.

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