Molecular characterization of the sea lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of retinal cell types

Junqiang Wang, Lin Zhang, Martina Cavallini, Ali Pahlevan, Junwei Sun, Ala Morshedian, Gordon L. Fain, Alapakkam P. Sampath and Yi-Rong Peng ()
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Junqiang Wang: UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
Lin Zhang: UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
Martina Cavallini: UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
Ali Pahlevan: UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
Junwei Sun: UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
Ala Morshedian: UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
Gordon L. Fain: UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
Alapakkam P. Sampath: UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
Yi-Rong Peng: UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-21

Abstract: Abstract The lamprey, a primitive jawless vertebrate whose ancestors diverged from all other vertebrates over 500 million years ago, offers a unique window into the ancient formation of the retina. Using single-cell RNA-sequencing, we characterize retinal cell types in the lamprey and compare them to those in mouse, chicken, and zebrafish. We find six cell classes and 74 distinct cell types, many shared with other vertebrate species. The conservation of cell types indicates their emergence early in vertebrate evolution, highlighting primordial designs of retinal circuits for the rod pathway, ON-OFF discrimination, and direction selectivity. The diversification of amacrine and some ganglion cell types appears, however, to be distinct in the lamprey. We further infer genetic regulators in specifying retinal cell classes and identify ancestral regulatory elements across species, noting decreased conservation in specifying amacrine cells. Altogether, our characterization of the lamprey retina illuminates the evolutionary origin of visual processing in the retina.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55019-x

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