Wnt ligands from the embryonic surface ectoderm regulate 'bimetallic strip' optic cup morphogenesis in the mouse

Wnt signaling in early eye development, specifically the lens placode shows expression of 12 out of 19 Wnt ligands. We these Wnt activities were suppressed using conditional deletion of Wntless, dramatic phenotypic changes in morphogensis occurred. Microarray analysis of the genes that were changed in response to deletion of Wnt ligands in the developing eye region show direct or indirect responses from the surface ectoderm to the developing RPE and optic cup curvature, creating an overall shape change phenotype in the bilayered epithelium of the optic cup. Mouse embryos at embryonic stage e10.5 were dissected into PBS and eye regions were dissected and removed for RNA extraction and hybridization to Affymetrix microarrays. We sought to identify the genes that were changed in response to deletion of Wls from the developing surface ectoderm of the eye region. Genes changed could be the direct or indirect result from deletion of Wls from the surface ectoderm using the Le-Cre recombinase gene as a tool for analysis.