title: Retinogenesis: stochasticity and the competency model.
abstract: The vertebrate retina is made up of seven principal cell types. These seven retinal cell types arise from multipotent retinal progenitor cells (RPCs). The competency model was proposed suggesting that RPCs undergo a series of irreversible transitions between competency states, in each of which the RPCs are competent to generate a different subset of cell types, but not retinal cells generated at previous moments. In this work, we generalize the stochastic model of neurogenesis of Barton et al. (2014), assuming that the same factor that regulates the differentiation, regulates the competency. The model reproduces the timing of production of different retinal cell types in rats such as it was experimentally measured. The results show that the evolution of the competency during retinogenesis could be explained by a single factor. Its evolution during the cell cycle and the stochastic inheritance in cell divisions determine the sequence and the overlap of production of different retinal cell types during development.
authors: Instituto de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, J.M. Gutierrez 1150, (1613) Los Polvorines, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: alebarton@gmail.com.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Barton
authors: Instituto de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, J.M. Gutierrez 1150, (1613) Los Polvorines, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: afendrik@ungs.edu.ar.
authors: A J
authors: AJ
authors: Fendrik
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology*; D013269:Stochastic Processes
keywords: Asymmetric divisions; Retinal progenitor cells; Stochastic development