Genetic control of cell geometry in epithelia: the morphogenesis of the vertebrate optic cup as experimental paradigm

Resumen del póster presentado al 11th Meeting of the Spanish Society for Developmental Biology, celebrado en Girona (España) del 19 al 21 de octubre de 2016.The orchestration of the morphogenetic mechanisms involved in organ formation during embryogenesis and tissue homeostasis entails a precise genetic control of cellular shape. The development of complex organs requires coordination among molecular mechanisms specifying the identity of each cellular domain and downstream effectors. Using available tissue models, only few effector molecules have been identified and the role of many morphogenetic genes has not been explored. Furthermore, little is known about how these effector molecules integrate into broader developmental gene networks. Here we focus on the development of the optic cup as a model to identify key effector genes determining cell and tissue architecture in zebrafish. During eye development an undifferentiated mass of precursor cells from the neural plate, morphologically and molecularly indistinguishable, differentiates into the neural retina (NR) and the retinal-pigmented epithelium (RPE). In the frame of a few hours, the eye specification network bifurcates into mutually exclusive developmental programs for the NR and RPE and each domain displays a distinctive morphology. These differential cell geometries will condition the optic cup invagination. We have isolated these populations by FACS, to perfom an RNAseq analysis of the bifurcating gene networks (GRNs) that establish the identity of these domains. By interrogating eye GRNs, we aim to identify downstream genes operating directly on basic cell morphological properties. This work will contribute to the identification and analysis of novel components of the machinery driving optic cup morphogenesis, many of which will be causative genes for the most common hereditary malformations of the eye.Peer Reviewe