Multiomics analyses reveal early metabolic imbalance and mitochondrial stress in neonatal photoreceptors leading to cell death in Pde6brd1/rd1 mouse model of retinal degeneration.

Retinal diseases exhibit extensive genetic heterogeneity and complex etiology with varying onset and severity. Mutations in over 200 genes can lead to photoreceptor dysfunction and/or cell death in retinal neurodegeneration. To deduce molecular pathways that initiate and/or drive cell death, we adopted a temporal multiomics approach and examined molecular and cellular events in newborn and developing photoreceptors before the onset of degeneration in a widely-used Pde6brd1/rd1 (rd1) mouse, a model of autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa caused by PDE6B mutations.

NRL-Regulated Transcriptome Dynamics of Developing Rod Photoreceptors.

Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) guiding differentiation of cell types and cell assemblies in the nervous system are poorly understood because of inherent complexities and interdependence of signaling pathways. Here, we report transcriptome dynamics of differentiating rod photoreceptors in the mammalian retina. Given that the transcription factor NRL determines rod cell fate, we performed expression profiling of developing NRL-positive (rods) and NRL-negative (S-cone-like) mouse photoreceptors.

Whole Exome Sequencing Reveals Mutations in Known Retinal Disease Genes in 33 out of 68 Israeli Families with Inherited Retinopathies.

Whole exome sequencing (WES) is a powerful technique for identifying sequence changes in the human genome. The goal of this study was to delineate the genetic defects in patients with inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) using WES. WES was performed on 90 patient DNA samples from 68 families and 226 known genes for IRDs were analyzed.

Whole exome sequencing reveals GUCY2D as a major gene associated with cone and cone-rod dystrophy in Israel.

Purpose: The Israeli population has a unique genetic make-up, with a high prevalence of consanguineous marriages and autosomal recessive diseases. In rod-dominated phenotypes, disease-causing genes and mutations that differ from those identified in other populations often are incurred. We used whole exome sequencing (WES) to identify genetic defects in Israeli families with cone-dominated retinal phenotypes.

Identification of a rare coding variant in complement 3 associated with age-related macular degeneration.

Macular degeneration is a common cause of blindness in the elderly. To identify rare coding variants associated with a large increase in risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), we sequenced 2,335 cases and 789 controls in 10 candidate loci (57 genes). To increase power, we augmented our control set with ancestry-matched exome-sequenced controls.