title: Differentiation state-specific mitochondrial dynamic regulatory networks are revealed by global transcriptional analysis of the developing chicken lens.
abstract: The mature eye lens contains a surface layer of epithelial cells called the lens epithelium that requires a functional mitochondrial population to maintain the homeostasis and transparency of the entire lens. The lens epithelium overlies a core of terminally differentiated fiber cells that must degrade their mitochondria to achieve lens transparency. These distinct mitochondrial populations make the lens a useful model system to identify those genes that regulate the balance between mitochondrial homeostasis and elimination. Here we used an RNA sequencing and bioinformatics approach to identify the transcript levels of all genes expressed by distinct regions of the lens epithelium and maturing fiber cells of the embryonic Gallus gallus (chicken) lens. Our analysis detected more than 15,000 unique transcripts expressed by the embryonic chicken lens. Of these, more than 3000 transcripts exhibited significant differences in expression between lens epithelial cells and fiber cells. Multiple transcripts coding for separate mitochondrial homeostatic and degradation mechanisms were identified to exhibit preferred patterns of expression in lens epithelial cells that require mitochondria relative to lens fiber cells that require mitochondrial elimination. These included differences in the expression levels of metabolic (DUT, PDK1, SNPH), autophagy (ATG3, ATG4B, BECN1, FYCO1, WIPI1), and mitophagy (BNIP3L/NIX, BNIP3, PARK2, p62/SQSTM1) transcripts between lens epithelial cells and lens fiber cells. These data provide a comprehensive window into all genes transcribed by the lens and those mitochondrial regulatory and degradation pathways that function to maintain mitochondrial populations in the lens epithelium and to eliminate mitochondria in maturing lens fiber cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida 33431.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chauss
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107.
authors.forename: Subhasree
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107.
authors.forename: Suren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rajakaruna
authors.affiliation: Ophthalmic Genetics and Visual Function Branch, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida 33431.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gau
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida 33431.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anastas
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida 33431.
authors.forename: Lisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.affiliation: Ophthalmic Genetics and Visual Function Branch, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
authors.forename: J Fielding
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Hejtmancik
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107.
authors.forename: A Sue
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Menko
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida 33431 mkantoro@fau.edu.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kantorow
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030161:Avian Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002642:Chick Embryo / Q000378:metabolism*; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004848:Epithelium / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000378:metabolism*; D063154:Mitochondrial Dynamics / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D030161:Avian Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger
keywords: RNA sequencing; differentiation; eye; lens; mitochondria; mitochondrial dynamics; mitophagy