Notch pathway mutants do not equivalently perturb mouse embryonic retinal development
Fig 1
Hes genes in the embryonic mouse eye.
(A) Hes1 and Hes5-GFP colabeling at E11.0 shows uniform Hes1 expression, and BAC Tg(Hes5-GFP) expression in the temporal optic cup and most of the optic stalk and adjacent diencephalon. (B) At this stage, Pax2 and Hes5-GFP are largely mutually exclusive, with Pax2 expression transiting from uniform to ONH/OS domain restriction [65]. OS and brain progenitors surrounding the third ventricle (3V) have not yet differentiated. (C) At E10.5 Hes5-GFP and Foxg1 are not coexpressed in the optic cup, as they are in the nasal brain (yellow domain). (D,E) By E11.5, Hes1 now exhibits oscillating optic cup expression, which is unaffected in Hes3-/-;Hes5-/- double mutants. (F-G) At E13.5 Hes5 mRNA expression is inappropriately expanded in the retinal territory that invaded the OS (arrows), after Rax-Cre removal of Hes1(G); Chx10-Cre-induced Hes1 mutants have normal Hes5 expression (S2 Fig). (H-I) Hes5 mRNA similarly expands in Pax2GFP/GFP mutants with retina-ONH boundary (arrows) defects [65]. N = nasal; T = temporal; LV = lens vesicle; L = lens; 3V = third ventricle; Bar in A = 10 microns, in F,H = 100 microns; n ≥3 per age and genotype.