Thyroid hormone signaling specifies cone subtypes in human retinal organoids

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aau6348
• Publication Date: 2018-10-11T18:05:51Z
• Authors: Kiara C. Eldred; Sarah E. Hadyniak; Katarzyna A. Hussey; Boris Brenerman; Ping-Wu Zhang; Xitiz Chamling; Valentin M. Sluch; Derek S. Welsbie; Samer Hattar; James Taylor; Karl Wahlin; Donald J. Zack; Robert J. Johnston
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 570; Thyroid Hormones; General Science & Technology; 1.1 Normal biological development and functioning; 610; Eye; Article; Retina; Cell Line; 03 medical and health sciences; Humans; Developmental; Stem Cell Research - Embryonic - Human; Eye Disease and Disorders of Vision; Embryonic Stem Cells; Ophthalmology and Optometry; Biomedical and Clinical Sciences; Neurosciences; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Stem Cell Research; Human Fetal Tissue; 3. Good health; Organoids; Gene Expression Regulation; Neurological; Mutation; Proteolysis; Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells; CRISPR-Cas Systems

Thyroid hormone in color vision development

Cone photoreceptors in the eye enable color vision, responding to different wavelengths of light according to what opsin pigments they express. Eldred et al. studied organoids that recapitulate the development of the human retina and found that differentiation of cone cells into their tuned subtypes was regulated by thyroid hormone. Cones expressing short-wavelength (S) opsin developed first, and cones expressing long- and medium-wavelength (L/M) opsin developed later. The switch toward development of L/M cones depended on thyroid hormone signaling through the nuclear thyroid hormone receptor.

Science , this issue p. eaau6348