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Hahn J, Monavarfeshani A, Qiao M, Kao A, Kölsch Y, Kumar A, Kunze VP, Rasys AM, Richardson R, Baier H, Lucas RJ, Li W, Meister M, Trachtenberg JT, Yan W, Peng YR, Sanes JR, Shekhar K. Evolution of neuronal cell classes and types in the vertebrate retina. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.04.07.536039. [PMID: 37066415 PMCID: PMC10104162 DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.07.536039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/18/2023]
Abstract
The basic plan of the retina is conserved across vertebrates, yet species differ profoundly in their visual needs (Baden et al., 2020). One might expect that retinal cell types evolved to accommodate these varied needs, but this has not been systematically studied. Here, we generated and integrated single-cell transcriptomic atlases of the retina from 17 species: humans, two non-human primates, four rodents, three ungulates, opossum, ferret, tree shrew, a teleost fish, a bird, a reptile and a lamprey. Molecular conservation of the six retinal cell classes (photoreceptors, horizontal cells, bipolar cells, amacrine cells, retinal ganglion cells [RGCs] and Muller glia) is striking, with transcriptomic differences across species correlated with evolutionary distance. Major subclasses are also conserved, whereas variation among types within classes or subclasses is more pronounced. However, an integrative analysis revealed that numerous types are shared across species based on conserved gene expression programs that likely trace back to the common ancestor of jawed vertebrates. The degree of variation among types increases from the outer retina (photoreceptors) to the inner retina (RGCs), suggesting that evolution acts preferentially to shape the retinal output. Finally, we identified mammalian orthologs of midget RGCs, which comprise >80% of RGCs in the human retina, subserve high-acuity vision, and were believed to be primate-specific (Berson, 2008); in contrast, the mouse orthologs comprise <2% of mouse RGCs. Projections both primate and mouse orthologous types are overrepresented in the thalamus, which supplies the primary visual cortex. We suggest that midget RGCs are not primate innovations, but descendants of evolutionarily ancient types that decreased in size and increased in number as primates evolved, thereby facilitating high visual acuity and increased cortical processing of visual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua Hahn
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Aboozar Monavarfeshani
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, MA 02138, USA
| | - Mu Qiao
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Allison Kao
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, MA 02138, USA
| | - Yvonne Kölsch
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany
| | - Ayush Kumar
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Vincent P Kunze
- Retinal Neurophysiology Section, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Ashley M. Rasys
- Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602
| | - Rose Richardson
- Division of Neuroscience and Centre for Biological Timing, Faculty of Biology Medicine & Health, University of Manchester, Upper Brook Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Herwig Baier
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany
| | - Robert J. Lucas
- Division of Neuroscience and Centre for Biological Timing, Faculty of Biology Medicine & Health, University of Manchester, Upper Brook Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Wei Li
- Retinal Neurophysiology Section, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Markus Meister
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Joshua T. Trachtenberg
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Wenjun Yan
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, MA 02138, USA
| | - Yi-Rong Peng
- Department of Ophthalmology, Stein Eye Institute, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90095 United States
| | - Joshua R. Sanes
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, MA 02138, USA
| | - Karthik Shekhar
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, Vision Science Graduate Group, Center for Computational Biology, Biophysics Graduate Group, California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley CA 94720, USA
- Faculty Scientist, Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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Englund M, Faridjoo S, Iyer CS, Krubitzer L. Available Sensory Input Determines Motor Performance and Strategy in Early Blind and Sighted Short-Tailed Opossums. iScience 2020; 23:101527. [PMID: 33083758 PMCID: PMC7516066 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2020] [Revised: 08/05/2020] [Accepted: 08/31/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The early loss of vision results in a reorganized neocortex, affecting areas of the brain that process both the spared and lost senses, and leads to heightened abilities on discrimination tasks involving the spared senses. Here, we used performance measures and machine learning algorithms that quantify behavioral strategy to determine if and how early vision loss alters adaptive sensorimotor behavior. We tested opossums on a motor task involving somatosensation and found that early blind animals had increased limb placement accuracy compared with sighted controls, while showing similarities in crossing strategy. However, increased reliance on tactile inputs in early blind animals resulted in greater deficits in limb placement and behavioral flexibility when the whiskers were trimmed. These data show that compensatory cross-modal plasticity extends beyond sensory discrimination tasks to motor tasks involving the spared senses and highlights the importance of whiskers in guiding forelimb control. Early blind opossums outperform sighted controls during ladder rung walking Whisker trimming causes forelimb accuracy deficits in blind and sighted opossums Whisker trimming, but not the loss of vision, impacts stereotypical movements Both groups adopt conservative approaches to ladder crossing after whisker trimming
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Affiliation(s)
- Mackenzie Englund
- Department of Psychology, University of California, 135 Young Hall, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Samaan Faridjoo
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, 149 Briggs Hall, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Christopher S Iyer
- Symbolic Systems Program, Stanford University, 460 Margaret Jacks Hall, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Leah Krubitzer
- Department of Psychology, University of California, 135 Young Hall, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.,Center for Neuroscience, University of California, 1544 Newton Court, Davis, CA 95618, USA
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Grünert U, Martin PR. Cell types and cell circuits in human and non-human primate retina. Prog Retin Eye Res 2020; 78:100844. [PMID: 32032773 DOI: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2020.100844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2019] [Revised: 01/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
This review summarizes our current knowledge of primate including human retina focusing on bipolar, amacrine and ganglion cells and their connectivity. We have two main motivations in writing. Firstly, recent progress in non-invasive imaging methods to study retinal diseases mean that better understanding of the primate retina is becoming an important goal both for basic and for clinical sciences. Secondly, genetically modified mice are increasingly used as animal models for human retinal diseases. Thus, it is important to understand to which extent the retinas of primates and rodents are comparable. We first compare cell populations in primate and rodent retinas, with emphasis on how the fovea (despite its small size) dominates the neural landscape of primate retina. We next summarise what is known, and what is not known, about the postreceptoral neurone populations in primate retina. The inventories of bipolar and ganglion cells in primates are now nearing completion, comprising ~12 types of bipolar cell and at least 17 types of ganglion cell. Primate ganglion cells show clear differences in dendritic field size across the retina, and their morphology differs clearly from that of mouse retinal ganglion cells. Compared to bipolar and ganglion cells, amacrine cells show even higher morphological diversity: they could comprise over 40 types. Many amacrine types appear conserved between primates and mice, but functions of only a few types are understood in any primate or non-primate retina. Amacrine cells appear as the final frontier for retinal research in monkeys and mice alike.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ulrike Grünert
- The University of Sydney, Save Sight Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, Sydney Node, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia.
| | - Paul R Martin
- The University of Sydney, Save Sight Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, Sydney Node, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
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