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Similarities and differences among inner retinal neurons revealed by the expression of reporter transgenes controlled by Brn-3a, Brn-3b, and Brn-3c promotor sequences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Mengqing Xiang ,
Lijuan Zhou  and
Jeremy Nathans
Mengqing Xiang
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
Lijuan Zhou
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
Jeremy Nathans
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics Neuroscience Ophthalmology Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
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Abstract

Brn-3a, Brn-3b, and Brn-3c are highly homologous POU-domain transcription factors that are expressed in subsets of retinal ganglion cells. From each of the mouse Brn-3 genes, a DNA segment ranging in size from 4.6 to 13.4 kb and located immediately upstream of the start site of translation was joined to a human placental alkaline phosphatase (AP) reporter cDNA. Following the introduction of each construct into the mouse germline, a total of 19 transgenic lines were obtained, of which 16 expressed the AP reporter in the retina. Unexpectedly, at least 14 of the 16 expressing lines showed AP activity in subsets of amacrine cells, and these subsets typically differed among mouse lines injected with the same construct. Transgene expression was also found in ganglion cells in four lines and bipolar cells in seven lines. In all cases AP activity was confined to cells in the inner nuclear layer and the ganglion cell layer. The expression of Brn-3 transgenes in multiple cell types in the inner retina is reminiscent of earlier experiments in which visual pigment transgenes were found to be expressed in multiple cell types in the outer retina. Taken together, these observations suggest that anatomically and/or functionally related retinal neurons contain partially overlapping transcriptional regulatory specificities.

Keywords

Transgenic miceAmacrine cellsRetinaPOU-domain transcription factors
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 13 , Issue 5 , September 1996 , pp. 955 - 962
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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