Liao Kuo, Xiang Ya, Lin Youning, Liao Pingfang, Xu Wenbo, Wang Zhenlong, Zhuang Zhenkun
BGI Research, Hangzhou 310030, China.
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, 17164 Stockholm, Sweden.
iScience. 2025 Feb 28;28(4):112128. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.112128. eCollection 2025 Apr 18.
During the evolution of vertebrates, significant transformations have occurred in the visual transmission and processing pathways. However, our understanding of the differences between two primary visual pathways in vertebrates and their evolutionary changes remains limited. The emerging technologies and comparative analysis have provided us with a more comprehensive way to decipher this process. Here, we applied single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) onto the avian optic tectum, one of the key visual subcortical hubs in birds, to construct its cellular landscape. By integrating these data with mammalian snRNA-seq datasets, we revealed differences in the density of two types of thalamic-projecting excitatory neurons within the retinotectal pathway of birds and mammals. Additionally, a series of shared molecules were identified between two types of dominant visual pathways in vertebrates. Overall, this work provides a novel focus on the evolution of visual pathways and establishes a framework for their comparative analysis.
在脊椎动物的进化过程中，视觉传导和处理通路发生了重大转变。然而，我们对脊椎动物两条主要视觉通路之间的差异及其进化变化的理解仍然有限。新兴技术和比较分析为我们提供了一种更全面的方式来解读这一过程。在这里，我们将单核RNA测序（snRNA-seq）应用于鸟类视顶盖（鸟类关键的视觉皮层下枢纽之一），以构建其细胞图谱。通过将这些数据与哺乳动物的snRNA-seq数据集相结合，我们揭示了鸟类和哺乳动物视网膜-视顶盖通路中两种丘脑投射兴奋性神经元密度的差异。此外，在脊椎动物的两种主要视觉通路之间鉴定出了一系列共享分子。总体而言，这项工作为视觉通路的进化提供了新的关注点，并建立了其比较分析的框架。
