Calphotin is a Drosophila photoreceptor cell-specific protein expressed very early in eye development, at the time when cell-type decisions are being made. Calphotin is a very hydrophobic and proline-rich protein which lacks obvious transmembrane domains. The cDNA encoding Calphotin was mapped to a region removed by a set of existing chromosomal deletions. Mutations that alter photoreceptor cel...

PURPOSE Previous studies showed that chick retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells can be reprogrammed by a specific gene to take on the path of photoreceptor differentiation. In this study, we tested whether this reprogramming scheme could be applied to mammalian RPE cells. METHODS Human RPE cell lines ARPE-19, a spontaneously transformed line of RPE cells derived from a 19-year-old person, a...

PURPOSE A single systemic administration of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) causes retinal degeneration involving photoreceptor cell loss within 7 days. MNU-induced photoreceptor cell loss is due to apoptosis and is a reliable animal model for human retinitis pigmentosa. The purpose of this study was to determine if p53 contributes to the development of MNU-induced retinal degeneration in mice. ...

The sensory basis of magnetoreception in animals still remains a mystery. One hypothesis of magnetoreception is that photochemical radical pair reactions can transduce magnetic information in specialized photoreceptor cells, possibly involving the photoreceptor molecule cryptochrome. This hypothesis triggered a considerable amount of research in the past decade. Here, we present an updated pict...

Many studies have demonstrated that epigenetic mechanisms are important in the regulation of gene expression during embryogenesis, gametogenesis, and other forms of tissue-specific gene regulation. We sought to explore the possible role of epigenetics, specifically DNA methylation, in the establishment and maintenance of cell type-restricted gene expression in the retina. To assess the relation...

Riverine tsetse transmit the parasites that cause the most prevalent form of human African trypanosomiasis, Gambian HAT. In response to the imperative for cheap and efficient tsetse control, insecticide-treated 'tiny targets' have been developed through refinement of tsetse attractants based on blue fabric panels. However, modern blue polyesters used for this purpose attract many less tsetse th...