Bifurcation of the neural retina and retinal pigment epithelium specification networks: From optic cup morphogenesis to retinal degenerative diseases

Trabajo presentado en el Development in Action (DiA) meeting SPDB, celebrado en Faro (Portugal), el 21 de junio de 2019.Understanding how a multipotent gene regulatory network (GRN) bifurcates into specialized sub-networks is a central question in Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine. A main goal in our group is to dissect the genetic programs triggering the splitting of the eye field into the neural retina and RPE domains in zebrafish. This regionalization process, which occurs within a few hours window in teleosts, requires the acquisition of very divergent cell geometries and physiological properties. The relative simple architecture of the tissues involved, the considerable size of the optic cup, and the experimental advantages of zebrafish as a genetic model make it an amenable system for the dynamic analysis of GRNs