The Zebrafish Anillin-eGFP Reporter Marks Late Dividing Retinal Precursors and Stem Cells Entering Neuronal Lineages

Monitoring cycling behaviours of stem and somatic cells in the living animal is a powerful tool to better understand tissue development and homeostasis. The tg(anillin:anillin-eGFP) transgenic line carries the full-length zebrafish F-actin binding protein Anillin fused to eGFP from a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) containing Anillin cis-regulatory sequences. Here we report the suitability of the Anillin-eGFP reporter as a direct indicator of cycling cells in the late embryonic and post-embryonic retina. We show that combining the anillin:anillin-eGFP with other transgenes such as ptf1a:dsRed and atoh7:gap-RFP allows obtaining spatial and temporal resolution of the mitotic potentials of specific retinal cell populations. This is exemplified by the analysis of the origin of the previously reported apically and non-apically dividing late committed precursors of the photoreceptor and horizontal cell layers.

在活体动物中监测干细胞与体细胞的增殖周期行为，是深入解析组织发育与稳态平衡的重要手段。tg(anillin:anillin-eGFP)转基因品系以携带Anillin顺式调控序列的细菌人工染色体（BAC）为载体，表达与增强型绿色荧光蛋白（eGFP）融合的全长斑马鱼F-肌动蛋白结合蛋白Anillin。本研究证实，Anillin-eGFP报告基因可作为晚期胚胎期及胚胎后期视网膜增殖细胞的直接标记物。研究表明，将anillin:anillin-eGFP与ptf1a:dsRed、atoh7:gap-RFP等其他转基因品系联用，可实现特定视网膜细胞群有丝分裂潜能的时空分辨率分析。针对此前报道的光感受器层与水平细胞层中晚期定型前体细胞的顶端及非顶端分裂起源的分析，即为该方法的应用范例。