One of the most exciting revelations in retinal biology is that the molecules and mechanisms that direct eye formation are conserved throughout the animal kingdom. In recent years an entire cascade of molecules and their roles in eye specification have been found to be preserved in both mammalian and invertebrate retinal systems. In addition to provoking a profound rethinking of the origins of the eye, the emerging commonality among mechanisms used in eye development allows for the use of model systems to provide insight into the development and diseases of the mammalian eye. The Sine oculis box (Six) and Eyes absent (Eya) gene families function within the signaling cascades that regulate eye and head development in both mammals and invertebrates. Bilateral anophthalmia and holoprosencephaly type 2 are caused by mutations within the human Six6 and Six3 genes, while molecular lesions within the human Eyal gene result in congenital cataracts, Branchio-Oto-Renal (BOR) and Oto-FaciaI-Cervial (OFC) syndromes. The association of Six and Eya gene lesions with eye diseases, provides us with an exciting opportunity to explore the roles played by the SIX and EYA proteins in retinogenesis. The developing eye of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is an excellent experimental system for elucidating the genetic, molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying the activities of the SIX and EYA proteins. In the fruit fly, the Six family is represented by the SINE OCULIS (SO) and OPTIX proteins, while the EYES ABSENT (EYA) protein is the only Eya family member. The goals of the proposed work are (1) to identify the steps in eye specification that are regulated by the Drosophila SIX and EYA family members; (2) to define the functional differences between the two fruit fly SIX proteins; (3) to understand the interactions of several signaling pathways with SO; and (4) to identify additional genes whose products participate in eye development and interact with SO. To achieve these goals, eye development will be analyzed in animals lacking both SO and EYA proteins; biochemical approaches will be used to dissect functional differences between SO and OPTIX; and the well-established techniques of Drosophila genetics will be used to define relationships between SO and other key proteins involved in eye development. Together, these approaches will provide insight into the roles of the SIX and EYA proteins in eye specification.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY014863-02
Application #
6781741
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-VISC (01))
Program Officer
Hunter, Chyren
Project Start
2003-08-01
Project End
2008-07-31
Budget Start
2004-08-01
Budget End
2005-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$329,977
Indirect Cost
Name
Indiana University Bloomington
Department
Biology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
006046700
City
Bloomington
State
IN
Country
United States
Zip Code
47401
Baker, Luke R; Weasner, Bonnie M; Nagel, Athena et al. (2018) Eyeless/Pax6 initiates eye formation non-autonomously from the peripodial epithelium. Development 145:
Zhu, Jinjin; Ordway, Alison J; Weber, Lena et al. (2018) Polycomb group (PcG) proteins and Pax6 cooperate to inhibit in vivo reprogramming of the developing Drosophila eye. Development 145:
Palliyil, Sneha; Zhu, Jinjin; Baker, Luke R et al. (2018) Allocation of distinct organ fates from a precursor field requires a shift in expression and function of gene regulatory networks. PLoS Genet 14:e1007185
Kumar, Justin P (2018) The fly eye: Through the looking glass. Dev Dyn 247:111-123
Zhu, Jinjin; Palliyil, Sneha; Ran, Chen et al. (2017) Drosophila Pax6 promotes development of the entire eye-antennal disc, thereby ensuring proper adult head formation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114:5846-5853
Weasner, Bonnie M; Zhu, Jinjin; Kumar, Justin P (2017) FLPing Genes On and Off in Drosophila. Methods Mol Biol 1642:195-209
Iyer, Janani; Wang, Qingyu; Le, Thanh et al. (2016) Quantitative Assessment of Eye Phenotypes for Functional Genetic Studies Using Drosophila melanogaster. G3 (Bethesda) 6:1427-37
Weasner, Bonnie M; Weasner, Brandon P; Neuman, Sarah D et al. (2016) Retinal Expression of the Drosophila eyes absent Gene Is Controlled by Several Cooperatively Acting Cis-regulatory Elements. PLoS Genet 12:e1006462
Spratford, Carrie M; Kumar, Justin P (2015) Extramacrochaetae functions in dorsal-ventral patterning of Drosophila imaginal discs. Development 142:1006-15
Spratford, Carrie M; Kumar, Justin P (2015) Inhibition of Daughterless by Extramacrochaetae mediates Notch-induced cell proliferation. Development 142:2058-68

Showing the most recent 10 out of 35 publications