RT Journal Article
T1 Müller glia reactivity follows retinal injury despite the absence of the glial fibrillary acidic protein gene in Xenopus
A1 Martínez De-Luna, Reyna I.
A1 Ku, Ray Y.
A1 Aruck, Alexandria M.
A1 Santiago, Francesca
A1 Viczian, Andrea S.
A1 San Mauro, Diego
A1 Zuber, Michael E.
AB Intermediate filament proteins are structural components of the cellular cytoskeleton with cell-type specific expression and function. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a type III intermediate filament protein and is up-regulated in glia of the nervous system in response to injury and during neurodegenerative diseases. In the retina, GFAP levels are dramatically increased in Müller glia and are thought to play a role in the extensive structural changes resulting in Müller cell hypertrophy and glial scar formation. In spite of similar changes to the morphology of Xenopus Müller cells following injury, we found that Xenopus lack a gfap gene. Other type III intermediate filament proteins were, however, significantly induced following rod photoreceptor ablation and retinal ganglion cell axotomy. The recently available X. tropicalis and X. laevis genomes indicate a small deletion most likely resulted in the loss of the gfap gene during anuran evolution. Lastly, a survey of representative species from all three extant amphibian orders including the Anura (frogs, toads), Caudata (salamanders, newts), and Gymnophiona (caecilians) suggests that deletion of the gfap locus occurred in the ancestor of all Anura after its divergence from the Caudata ancestor around 290 million years ago. Our results demonstrate that extensive changes in Müller cell morphology following retinal injury do not require GFAP in Xenopus, and other type III intermediate filament proteins may be involved in the gliotic response.
PB Elsevier
SN 0012-1606
YR 2017
FD 2017-06-15
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/18199
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/18199
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)
NO National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health(USA)
NO Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional
DS Docta Complutense
RD 27 abr 2025