Once the basic shape of the eye is specified, cells within the optic cup differentiate, populating the retina with neurons that sense light and refine visual information before it is transmitted to the brain. In fish and amphibians, retinal stem cells are maintained throughout the animal’s lifetime in a stem cell niche located adjacent to the lens (seen in yellow above). This situ hybridization image of a zebrafish eye (from a ~3-day-old larvae) reveals gene expression patterns that distinguish retinal stem cells (red) from the cells that are becoming neurons (purple). By comparing gene expression patterns within the retinal stem cell niche in normal and mutant eyes, we gain insight into how stem cells turn into neurons.
(Source: amolecularmatter)
