TY - JOUR TI - Fish primary embryonic pluripotent cells assemble into retinal tissue mirroring in vivo early eye development AU - Zilova, Lucie AU - Weinhardt, Venera AU - Tavhelidse, Tinatini AU - Schlagheck, Christina AU - Thumberger, Thomas AU - Wittbrodt, Joachim A2 - Martínez Arias, Alfonso A2 - Stainier, Didier YR A2 - Martínez Arias, Alfonso VL - 10 PY - 2021 DA - 2021/07/12 SP - e66998 C1 - eLife 2021;10:e66998 DO - 10.7554/eLife.66998 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66998 AB - Organoids derived from pluripotent stem cells promise the solution to current challenges in basic and biomedical research. Mammalian organoids are however limited by long developmental time, variable success, and lack of direct comparison to an in vivo reference. To overcome these limitations and address species-specific cellular organization, we derived organoids from rapidly developing teleosts. We demonstrate how primary embryonic pluripotent cells from medaka and zebrafish efficiently assemble into anterior neural structures, particularly retina. Within 4 days, blastula-stage cell aggregates reproducibly execute key steps of eye development: retinal specification, morphogenesis, and differentiation. The number of aggregated cells and genetic factors crucially impacted upon the concomitant morphological changes that were intriguingly reflecting the in vivo situation. High efficiency and rapid development of fish-derived organoids in combination with advanced genome editing techniques immediately allow addressing aspects of development and disease, and systematic probing of impact of the physical environment on morphogenesis and differentiation. KW - medaka KW - organoids KW - retina KW - in vitro organogenesis KW - zebrafish JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -