A transcriptome atlas of the mouse iris at single-cell resolution defines cell types and the genomic response to pupil dilation

eLife

Amir Rattner¹  Jie Wang²  Jeremy Nathans³ 

[1] Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States;Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States;Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States;Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States;Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States;Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States;Department of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States;

关键词: pupils;    ocular structure;    smooth muscle;    single-cell sequencing;    Mouse;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.73477

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

The iris controls the level of retinal illumination by controlling pupil diameter. It is a site of diverse ophthalmologic diseases and it is a potential source of cells for ocular auto-transplantation. The present study provides foundational data on the mouse iris based on single nucleus RNA sequencing. More specifically, this work has (1) defined all of the major cell types in the mouse iris and ciliary body, (2) led to the discovery of two types of iris stromal cells and two types of iris sphincter cells, (3) revealed the differences in cell type-specific transcriptomes in the resting vs. dilated states, and (4) identified and validated antibody and in situ hybridization probes that can be used to visualize the major iris cell types. By immunostaining for specific iris cell types, we have observed and quantified distortions in nuclear morphology associated with iris dilation and clarified the neural crest contribution to the iris by showing that Wnt1-Cre-expressing progenitors contribute to nearly all iris cell types, whereas Sox10-Cre-expressing progenitors contribute only to stromal cells. This work should be useful as a point of reference for investigations of iris development, disease, and pharmacology, for the isolation and propagation of defined iris cell types, and for iris cell engineering and transplantation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY