The role of transcription factor insm1a in vertebrate rod photoreceptor development

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a heritable retinal degenerative disease for which there is currently no cure. To develop cell transplantation therapies to treat RP, protocols for the in vitro culture of retinal progenitor cells must be established that will promote their terminal differentiation, integration, and survival once transplanted. Defining the transcriptional regulatory networks that trigger these events in vivo is a necessary next step for the evolution of transplantation strategies. One of the long-term goals of our laboratory is to contribute to these efforts by studying photoreceptor development and regeneration in the zebrafish, an important model organism for developmental genetic studies. Using a zebrafish model of chronic rod photoreceptor degeneration, we recently identified the transcriptional repressor insml a as a candidate regulator of rod photoreceptor differentiation. The experiments described in this proposal will define the role of insmla during retinogenesis at the cellular level through the application ofmolecular genetic approaches.