Pax6 is essential for the generation of late-born retinal neurons and for inhibition of photoreceptor-fate during late stages of retinogenesis.

In the developing retina, as in other regions of the CNS, neural progenitors give rise to individual cell types during discrete temporal windows. Pax6 is expressed in retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) throughout the course of retinogenesis, and has been shown to be required during early retinogenesis for generation of most early-born cell types. In this study, we examined the function of Pax6 in postnatal mouse retinal development.