RNA sequencing of E15.5 retinal tissue from control and Lhx2 CKO mice

Lhx2 is a retinal progenitor cell transcription factor critical for eye development. We previously reported that conditional inactivation of Lhx2 at the start of mouse retinal neurogenesis disrupted retinal progenitor cell (RPC) proliferation, greatly reduced the RPC pool and altered neurogenic output as indicated by changes in the production of multiple fated precursor populations. To identify genes whose expression levels are dependent on Lhx2 at this stage of development, Lhx2 conditional inactivation was initiated at E11.5 in RPCs with the progenitor Cre driver Hes1CreERT2 and retinal tissue was collected at E15.5 for RNA sequencing. The gene expression profiles of Lhx2 CKO retinas were compared to control (Lhx2 conditional heterozygotes) were compared. Downregulated and upregulated gene expression was observed, with some likely due to direct and indirect regulation by Lhx2 within RPCs and others due to changes in differentiation and the altered neurogenic output. Lhx2 was inactivated by inducible Cre recombination using CreERT2 knocked into the Hes1 locus. Mice were heterozygous for Hes1CreERT2. Control mice were Lhx2flox/+ and experimental (CKO)mice were Lhx2flox/KO. Tamoxifen was gavage fed at E11.5 and embryos were harvested at E15.5. Each biological replicate contained both retinas from an individual embryo with 4 biological replicates for each condition (genotype).