RNA Sequencing Analysis of the Human Retina and Associated Ocular Tissues

The RNA-seq experiment presented here characterizes several aspects of the human retina mRNA transcriptome. To investigate transcriptional networks specific to retinal neurons, whole corneas were analyzed as a non-neuronal control tissue for comparison to retinal samples. Additionally, to investigate cone and rod photoreceptor-specific cell type-restricted transcriptional regulation, 3 mm and 6 mm samples of the central and peripheral retina respectively were analyzed. Finally, this study also analyzes retinal pigment epithelia (RPE)/choroid tissue adjacent to the 3 mm macular retina. Together, the macular retina and adjacent RPE are the primary sites of pathology associated with the complex retinal disorder age-related macular degernation (AMD). RNAs extracted from these tissues were subjected to a rigorous workflow for robust and accurate analysis of transcriptional networks in clinically relevant ocular cell and tissue types that will be valuable to the vision research community.