Project description:Comparison of transcription profiles on anterior tectum and posterior tectum at HH35 an HH37, and that of medial and lateral tectum at HH30 and HH35. The goal was to obtain summary of genes expressed differentially across the AP and DV axis.
Project description:WDR12 is a ribosome biogenesis factor known to be expressed in Optic tectum Neuroepithelial cells, we define the transcriptome profile of the optic tectum neuroepithelial cells, by cell-sorting followed by RNA-seq (Illumina technology).
Project description:Abstract from Vermillion et al: During vertebrate development, progenitor cells give rise to tissues and organs through a complex choreography that commences at gastrulation. A hallmark event of gastrulation is the formation of the primitive streak, a linear assembly of cells along the anterior-posterior (AP) axis of the developing organism. To examine the primitive streak at a single-cell resolution, we measured the transcriptomes of individual chick cells from the streak or the surrounding tissue (the rest of the area pellucida) in Hamburger-Hamilton stage 4 embryos. The single-cell transcriptomes were then ordered by the statistical method Wave-Crest to deduce both the relative position along the AP axis and the prospective lineage of single cells. The ordered transcriptomes reveal intricate patterns of gene expression along the primitive streak.
Project description:Telencephalon, optic stalk, and optic-cup in vertebrates are originated from adjacent fields in the anterior neuroplate. How these tissues develop coordinately along the midline-periphery axis is unclear. Here, we report the self-formation of a human telencephalon-eye organoid comprising concentric zones of FOXG1+ telencephalon, PAX2+ optic disc/stalk, VSX2+ neuroretina, and PAX6+ tissues along the center-periphery axis. FGFs and BMPs were expressed starting at early stages and subsequently exhibited concentric gradients, suggesting their involvement in tissue patterning and coordinated cell differentiation. Early differentiated retinal ganglion cells (RGC) grew axons towards and along a path defined by an adjacent PAX2+ cell population. Lens cells were also found. Single-cell RNA sequencing confirmed telencephalic and ocular cell identities, located PAX2+ cell populations mimicking the optic disc/stalk, and identified RGC-specific cell surface protein CNTN2. RGCs were isolated in one step via CNTN2 in a native condition, facilitating therapeutic development for RGC-related retinal diseases such as glaucoma.
Project description:Newly-hatched domestic chick serves as an important model for studies of neural and behavioral plasticity, particularly with respect to learning and memory such as filial imprinting. Imprinting is assumed to be a unique case of recognition learning with some characteristic features, such as sensitive period and irreversibility. However, the molecules involved in the memory process are yet to be fully identified. To address this issue, we attempted to identify the genes differentially expressed at an earlier phase of filial imprinting than described in our previous report (Brain Res. Bull.76, 275-281 (2008)). One-day-old chicks were trained for imprinting for 1 h and whole brains were collected and used for cDNA microarray analysis and quantitative RT-PCR. We identified 18 genes upregulated accompanying filial imprinting. These results suggested that the increase of these 18 genes associated with filial imprinting might play an important role in the acquisition of memory in the filial imprinting.
