Molecular characterization of the sea lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of retinal cell types
Abstract The lamprey, a primitive jawless vertebrate whose ancestors diverged from all other vertebrates over 500 million years ago, offers a unique window into the ancient formation of the retina. Using single-cell RNA-sequencing, we characterize retinal cell types in the lamprey and compare them t...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55019-x |
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| author | Junqiang Wang Lin Zhang Martina Cavallini Ali Pahlevan Junwei Sun Ala Morshedian Gordon L. Fain Alapakkam P. Sampath Yi-Rong Peng |
| author_facet | Junqiang Wang Lin Zhang Martina Cavallini Ali Pahlevan Junwei Sun Ala Morshedian Gordon L. Fain Alapakkam P. Sampath Yi-Rong Peng |
| author_sort | Junqiang Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The lamprey, a primitive jawless vertebrate whose ancestors diverged from all other vertebrates over 500 million years ago, offers a unique window into the ancient formation of the retina. Using single-cell RNA-sequencing, we characterize retinal cell types in the lamprey and compare them to those in mouse, chicken, and zebrafish. We find six cell classes and 74 distinct cell types, many shared with other vertebrate species. The conservation of cell types indicates their emergence early in vertebrate evolution, highlighting primordial designs of retinal circuits for the rod pathway, ON-OFF discrimination, and direction selectivity. The diversification of amacrine and some ganglion cell types appears, however, to be distinct in the lamprey. We further infer genetic regulators in specifying retinal cell classes and identify ancestral regulatory elements across species, noting decreased conservation in specifying amacrine cells. Altogether, our characterization of the lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of visual processing in the retina. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9ea7bd8fa2f844d6909f8a7d568f72f0 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-9ea7bd8fa2f844d6909f8a7d568f72f02025-01-05T12:35:54ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-12-0115112110.1038/s41467-024-55019-xMolecular characterization of the sea lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of retinal cell typesJunqiang Wang0Lin Zhang1Martina Cavallini2Ali Pahlevan3Junwei Sun4Ala Morshedian5Gordon L. Fain6Alapakkam P. Sampath7Yi-Rong Peng8Department of Ophthalmology and Stein Eye Institute, UCLA David Geffen School of MedicineDepartment of Ophthalmology and Stein Eye Institute, UCLA David Geffen School of MedicineDepartment of Ophthalmology and Stein Eye Institute, UCLA David Geffen School of MedicineDepartment of Ophthalmology and Stein Eye Institute, UCLA David Geffen School of MedicineDepartment of Ophthalmology and Stein Eye Institute, UCLA David Geffen School of MedicineDepartment of Ophthalmology and Stein Eye Institute, UCLA David Geffen School of MedicineDepartment of Ophthalmology and Stein Eye Institute, UCLA David Geffen School of MedicineDepartment of Ophthalmology and Stein Eye Institute, UCLA David Geffen School of MedicineDepartment of Ophthalmology and Stein Eye Institute, UCLA David Geffen School of MedicineAbstract The lamprey, a primitive jawless vertebrate whose ancestors diverged from all other vertebrates over 500 million years ago, offers a unique window into the ancient formation of the retina. Using single-cell RNA-sequencing, we characterize retinal cell types in the lamprey and compare them to those in mouse, chicken, and zebrafish. We find six cell classes and 74 distinct cell types, many shared with other vertebrate species. The conservation of cell types indicates their emergence early in vertebrate evolution, highlighting primordial designs of retinal circuits for the rod pathway, ON-OFF discrimination, and direction selectivity. The diversification of amacrine and some ganglion cell types appears, however, to be distinct in the lamprey. We further infer genetic regulators in specifying retinal cell classes and identify ancestral regulatory elements across species, noting decreased conservation in specifying amacrine cells. Altogether, our characterization of the lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of visual processing in the retina.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55019-x |
| spellingShingle | Junqiang Wang Lin Zhang Martina Cavallini Ali Pahlevan Junwei Sun Ala Morshedian Gordon L. Fain Alapakkam P. Sampath Yi-Rong Peng Molecular characterization of the sea lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of retinal cell types Nature Communications |
| title | Molecular characterization of the sea lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of retinal cell types |
| title_full | Molecular characterization of the sea lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of retinal cell types |
| title_fullStr | Molecular characterization of the sea lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of retinal cell types |
| title_full_unstemmed | Molecular characterization of the sea lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of retinal cell types |
| title_short | Molecular characterization of the sea lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of retinal cell types |
| title_sort | molecular characterization of the sea lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of retinal cell types |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55019-x |
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