Profiling transcriptional variation in the Drosophila retina

While we have a solid understanding of the causes behind many retinal disorders--including retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration--the interplay between underlying genetic variation and environmental influences contributes to the wide variability in the onset, severity, and disease progression in individual patients. This study focuses on characterizing the retinal transcriptome of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) to understand how variations in gene expression contribute to visual impairment. By using a Systems Genetics approach, the research aims to identify gene co-expression networks that regulate visual function along with the underlying genetic architecture.