Stretching of the retinal pigment epithelium contributes to zebrafish optic cup morphogenesis
- CSIC-UAM, Spain
- St George's University, United Kingdom
Abstract
The vertebrate eye-primordium consists of a pseudostratified neuroepithelium, the optic vesicle (OV), in which cells acquire neural retina or retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) fates. As these fates arise, the OV assumes a cup-shape, influenced by mechanical forces generated within the neural retina. Whether the RPE passively adapts to retinal changes or actively contributes to OV morphogenesis remains unexplored. We generated a zebrafish Tg(E1-bhlhe40:GFP) line to track RPE morphogenesis and interrogate its participation in OV folding. We show that, in virtual absence of proliferation, RPE cells stretch and flatten, thereby matching the retinal curvature and promoting OV folding. Localized interference with the RPE cytoskeleton disrupts tissue stretching and OV folding. Thus, extreme RPE flattening and accelerated differentiation are efficient solutions adopted by fast-developing species to enable timely optic cup formation. This mechanism differs in amniotes, in which proliferation drives RPE expansion with a much-reduced need of cell flattening.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for all the graphs shown in the study
Article and author information
Author details
Florencia Cavodeassi
Funding
Agencia Estatal de Investigación (PID2019-104186RB-100)
- Paola Bovolenta
Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España (RED2018-102553-T)
- Paola Bovolenta
Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España (BFU2016-75412-R)
- Paola Bovolenta
Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España (BFU2014-55918-P)
- Florencia Cavodeassi
BBVA Foundation (N[16]_BBM_BAS_0078)
- Florencia Cavodeassi
Fundación Ramon Areces-2016 (no number)
- Paola Bovolenta
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2021, Moreno-Mármol et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Stretching of the retinal pigment epithelium contributes to zebrafish optic cup morphogenesis
eLife 10:e63396.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63396
