...Hyuna Noh; Haeryung Lee; Eunjeong Park; Soochul Park The development of complex organs such as the eye requires a delicate and coordinated balance of cell division and cell death. Although apoptosis is prevalent in the proximoventral optic cup, the precise role it plays in eye development needs...

... as a model system. We showed that the surface ectoderm region that includes the lens placode expressed 12 out of 19 possible Wnt ligands. When these activities were suppressed by conditional deletion of wntless ( Le-cre; Wls fl/fl ) there were dramatic consequences that included a saucer-shaped optic cup...

... or inhibition of Wnt, but not Wnt/β-catenin, signalling prevents pigmentation and downregulates the RPE regulatory gene Mitf . Activation of BMP or Wnt signalling can replace the surface ectoderm to rescue MITF expression and optic cup formation. We provide evidence that BMPs and Wnts cooperate via a GSK3β...

... of these various cell types requires a coordinated sequence of patterning, specification and differentiation events. We investigated the roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the development of optic cup (OC)-derived structures. We inactivated Dicer1, a key mediator of miRNA biosynthesis, within the OC in overlapping yet...

... mechanisms that carve the architecture of the vertebrate optic cup remain largely unknown. Understanding how the hemispheric shape of an eye is formed requires addressing the fundamental problem of how individual cell behaviour is coordinated to direct epithelial morphogenesis. Here, we analyze the role...

... and surrounding mesenchyme. At early stages, Raldh2 expressed in mesenchyme and Raldh3 expressed in the retinal pigmented epithelium generate RA that delivers an essential signal to the neural retina required for morphogenetic movements that lead to ventral invagination of the optic cup. At later stages, Raldh1...