Abstract

In vertebrates, the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the retina are derived from different parts of the optical vesicle. Previous studies suggest that the RPE plays a role in the development of retina by unknown mechanisms. The recent findings of mutations of epithelial polarity genes such as nok that cause defects in both the RPE and the retina further energizes the research on whether and how the RPE participates in retinal development. Here, we generated a transgenic fish line (pt106) in which Nok function is restored in the RPE but not in the neural retina. The characterization of pt106 revealed that the RPE plays an essential role in maintaining proper polarity of the retinal neuroepithelium. This polarity maintenance is largely dependent on Nok‐mediated RPE integrity but not on retinal expression of Nok. In addition, we found that the restoration of RPE integrity has a dramatic positive effect on retinal cellular pattern formation during neurogenesis. Our results suggest a pathway that governs the cellular pattern formation of the neural retina: Nok‐mediated RPE integrity ensures the retinal neuroepithelium to polarize correctly; the correct retinal epithelial polarity then underlies proper migration and spatial arrangements of retinal cells during neurogenesis. Our study is the first to show the essentiality of RPE integrity for retinal neuroepithelial polarity and cellular pattern formation.

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