Abstract
Presentation Description :
The organization of the retina is generally conserved among mammalian species, but there are also species-specific modifications of the retinal circuit. Of note, human and non-human primates have a specialized area–the fovea–at the center of their retinas. The circuitry in the fovea endows primates with high visual acuity that allows them to fulfill their daily activities. Diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration, impair the structure and functional integrity of the fovea, which cause compromised vision and possibly blindness. Non-human primates have been used as a favorable animal model to study visual diseases due to their close similarity in retinal organization to humans. Thus, it is indispensable to closely compare retinal cell types between human and non-human primates in order to translate the findings from non-human primates to human patients. In this talk, I will present molecular characterizations of retinal cell types using single-cell RNA-sequencing in three primate species: human, macaque, and marmoset. I will also describe our findings using genome-wide transcriptome comparisons to identify the convergent and divergent molecular features of cell types among the three species. Lastly, I will describe the potential mechanism that mediates the formation of the fovea in primates.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.