Requirement for <i>math5</i> in the development of retinal ganglion cells

Steven W. Wang(The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), Byong Su Kim(The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), Kan Ding(The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), Huan Wang(The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), Dantong Sun(The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), Randy L. Johnson(The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), William H. Klein(The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), Lin Gan(The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center)
Genes & Development
January 1, 2001
10.1101/gad.855301
Cited by 468Open Access
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Abstract

math5 is a murine orthologue of atonal, a bHLH proneural gene essential for the formation of photoreceptors and chordotonal organs in Drosophila. The expression of math5 coincides with the onset of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) differentiation. Targeted deletion of math5 blocks the initial differentiation of 80% of RGCs and results in an increase in differentiated amacrine cells. Furthermore, the absence of math5 abolishes the retinal expression of brn-3b and the formation of virtually all brn-3b-expressing RGCs. These results imply that math5 is a proneural gene essential for RGC differentiation and that math5 acts upstream to activate brn-3b-dependent differentiation processes in RGCs.

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