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First published online 23 January 2008
doi: 10.1242/dev.012088

Development 135, 805-811 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
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Research Report

Evidence for an evolutionary conserved role of homothorax/Meis1/2 during vertebrate retina development

Peer Heine, Eva Dohle, Keely Bumsted-O'Brien*, Dieter Engelkamp and Dorothea Schulte{dagger}

Department of Neuroanatomy, Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research, Deutschordenstr. 46, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany.

{dagger} Author for correspondence (e-mail: schulte{at}mpih-frankfurt.mpg.de)

Accepted 27 December 2007

SUMMARY

During eye development in D. melanogaster, the TALE-homeodomain protein Homothorax (Hth) is expressed by progenitor cells ahead of the neurogenic wave front, promotes rapid proliferation of these cells and is downregulated before cells exit the cell cycle and differentiate. Here, we present evidence that hth function is partially conserved in vertebrates. Retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) in chicks and mice express two Hth-related proteins, Meis1 and Meis2 (Mrg1), in species-specific temporal sequences. Meis1 marks RPCs throughout the period of neurogenesis in the retina, whereas Meis2 is specific for RPCs prior to the onset of retinal differentiation. Transfection of Meis-inactivating constructs impaired RPC proliferation and led to microphthalmia. RNA-interference-mediated knock-down of expression indicated that progenitor cells expressing Meis1 together with Meis2 proliferate more rapidly than cells expressing Meis1 alone. Transfection of Meis-inactivating constructs reduced the expression of cyclin D1 (Ccnd1) in the eye primordium and co-transfection of cyclin D1 partially rescued RPC proliferation. Collectively, these results suggest that (1) Meis1 and Meis2, similar to hth, maintain retinal progenitor cells in a rapidly proliferating state; (2) they control the expression of some ocular-determination genes and components of the cell cycle machinery; and (3) together with the species-specific differences in Meis1/Meis2 expression, combinatorial expression of Meis family proteins might be a candidate mechanism for the differential regulation of eye growth among vertebrate species.

Key words: Proliferation, Retina, Meis, Cyclin D1, Pax6, Mouse, Chick




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J. Bessa, M. J. Tavares, J. Santos, H. Kikuta, M. Laplante, T. S. Becker, J. L. Gomez-Skarmeta, and F. Casares
meis1 regulates cyclin D1 and c-myc expression, and controls the proliferation of the multipotent cells in the early developing zebrafish eye
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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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