Ahmad I, Acharya H R, Rogers J A, Shibata A, Smithgall T E, Dooley C M
Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha 68198-6395, USA.
J Mol Neurosci. 1998 Oct;11(2):165-78. doi: 10.1385/JMN:11:2:165.
NeuroD, a vertebrate homolog of Drosophila atonal gene, plays an important role in the differentiation of neuronal precursors (Lee et al., 1995). We have investigated whether NeuroD subserves a similar function in mammalian retinal neurogenesis. Expression of NeuroD is detected in successive stages of retinal neurogenesis and is associated with a differentiating population of retinal cells. The association of NeuroD predominantly with postmitotic precursors in early as well as late neurogenesis suggests that NeuroD expression plays an important role in the terminal differentiation of retinal neurons. The notion is supported by observations that overexpression of NeuroD during late neurogenesis promotes premature differentiation of late-born neurons, rod photoreceptors, and bipolar cells, and that NeuroD can interact specifically with the E-box element in the proximal promoter of the phenotype-specific gene, opsin.
NeuroD是果蝇无调基因在脊椎动物中的同源物，在神经元前体的分化中起重要作用（Lee等人，1995年）。我们研究了NeuroD在哺乳动物视网膜神经发生中是否具有类似功能。在视网膜神经发生的连续阶段检测到NeuroD的表达，并且与一群正在分化的视网膜细胞相关。NeuroD在神经发生早期和晚期主要与有丝分裂后前体相关，这表明NeuroD的表达在视网膜神经元的终末分化中起重要作用。这一观点得到以下观察结果的支持：在神经发生后期过表达NeuroD会促进晚期生成的神经元、视杆光感受器和双极细胞的过早分化，并且NeuroD可以与表型特异性基因视蛋白近端启动子中的E盒元件特异性相互作用。
