10,000,000,000 cells 7,000,000,000 people
1984 Conservation of developmental mechanisms
Transcription factors Downstream effectors
5’UTR Paired linker Homeo PST 3’UTR domain domain transactivation domain Alternatively spliced exon 5a Pax6
Paired domain Homeo domain Pax6
Mutant Control Mutant Sisodya et al Nature Genetics 2001
Pax6 gene expression in the developing cortex Rostral Caudal Lateral Medial
Wild-type Mutant
Pax6 expression reporter FACS sorted Pax6-expressing cells
Controls Pax6 -/- control No Mutant +/+ -/- +/+ -/- +/+ -/- Collaboration with Pathway Medicine
Mi et al 2013 Neuron
Martine Manuel Mike Molinek Da Mi John Mason New Study Delete Pax6 specifically in the cortex at a chosen time Look for changes in gene expression that occur rapidly after loss of Pax6 Primary defects Direct targets
Pax6 flox allele Ian Simpson EGFP Stop loxP Cre Conditional EGFP reporter
CreER T2 CreER Tamoxifen OFF ON Emx1-CreER T2
Give tamoxifen to pregnant females at E9.5 Collect embryos at E11.5, E12.5 and E13.5 Dissect cortex Extract RNA Deep Sequencing Pax6 +/flox Emx1creER Pax6 flox/flox Emx1creER controlPax6 cKO Dissect cortex Extract RNA Deep Sequencing
Tamoxifen given at E9.5 E11.5E12.5E13.5
E12.5 GFP / Pax6 immuno control Pax6 cKO
control Pax6 cKO E12.5
Pax6 actin CR CR CR control1control2Pax6cKO1Pax6cKO2 CR E12.5
Tamoxifen given at E9.5 E9.5E11.5E12.5E13.5
E11.5E12.5E13.5 E11.5E12.5E13.5 Tamoxifen given at E9.5 E9.5 E11.5E12.5E13.5 E9.5E11.5E12.5E13.5 * * *
E9.5 E11.5E12.5E13.5 * E9.5 E11.5E12.5E13.5 * E9.5 E11.5E12.5E13.5 Tamoxifen given at E9.5
E9.5E11.5E12.5E13.5 E9.5E11.5E12.5E13.5 Tamoxifen given at E9.5 Also no significant change in Smad4, Cdk4, cyclin D2, MCM3 and MCM6 expression.
R C CeM CeL Rostral Caudal Tamoxifen given at E9.5 E12.5
Rostral cortex Caudal cortex RNA extraction Pax6 immuno Collection of samples for RNAseq
controls Pax6 cKO Control Pax6cKO Collaboration with Genepool
controlPax6 cKO E13.5
Pax6 immuno. E13.5. Sagittal. ControlPax6 cKO Rostral
CR CR controlPax6cKO E13.5 Pax6 actin