Glowing cells offer insight on developmental diseases

A novel method of studying developmental tissue has offered new insights into a congenital eye condition.  

Scientists from the Roslin Institute have developed chicken embryos whose developing eye tissues are lit up with a fluorescent protein, enabling researchers to identify and study the developing cells in more detail than has been previously possible. 

Their work has enabled identification of several genes and biological processes associated with coloboma, a condition in which eye tissues fail to fuse correctly during development in the womb, which can lead to severe vision problems. 

Scientists developed their chicken model by editing a gene known as NTN1, which is active in developing tissues. They fused a green fluorescent protein to NTN1, such that cells in which the gene is activated would appear bright green under the microscope.  

This gene was injected into surrogate host male chicken embryos, which were hatched and bred with normal hens. The embryos recovered from the resulting eggs were studied as tissues fused together during development of the eye. 

This approach enables tissue to be studied from early stages of development, using imaging technology to detect and study the fluorescently tagged cells as the eye tissues form. 

In this way, the team was able to profile the genetic material within developing cells with fluorescence, and compare them with nearby cells which did not light up, enabling them to identify several genes and biological processes that are involved in tissue fusion and may cause coloboma and other fusion defects, if affected. 

Their insights could help inform further research towards medical approaches to prevent the onset of coloboma during embryonic development. 

The study, in Scientific Reports, was carried out in collaboration with the National Avian Research Facility and the Bioimaging and Flow Cytometry Facility at the Roslin Institute, together with researchers at University College London.