We thank K. McClellan and R. Slack for sharing unpublished data, L. Galli-Resta for suggesting Isl1 (Islet1) as an early SAC marker, J. Eubanks for advice on immunostaining, A. Berns, C. Cepko, and P. Gruss for mice, and T. Edlund, F. Haeseleer, R. Janz, S. Sugita, P. A. Hargrave, C. M. Craft, X. Zhu, R. McInnes, R. L. Chow, and J. Saari for antibodies. Author contributions. DC and RB conceived and designed the experiments. DC performed most of the experiments. RO, PW, and GL provided the E2f3 floxed and E2f3a KO mice. DC and RB analyzed the data. MP, NT, and MWS performed the ERG analysis. DC and RB wrote the paper.
Funding. This work was supported by grants from the Canadian Institute for Health Research and Foundation Fighting Blindness Canada to RB, and by the German Research Council (DFG Se837/4–1 and 5–1) and the European Union (IP “EVI-GenoRet” LSHG-CT-512036) to MWS.
Competing interests. The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Abbreviations
ANOVA analysis of variance
BrdU bromodeoxyuridine
cd candela
CNS central nervous system
DAPI 4,6-diamidino-2-phenyindole
DKO double knockout
E[number] embryonic day [number]
E2f E2f transcription factor
ERG electroretinogram
HSD honestly significant difference
GABA gamma-aminobutyric acid
GCL ganglion cell layer
INL inner nuclear layer
IPL inner plexiform layer
KO knockout
NBL neuroblastic layer
ONL outer nuclear layer
OPL outer plexiform layer
P[number] postnatal day [number]
PH3 phosphohistone 3
Rb retinoblastoma protein
RPC retinal progenitor cell
RTC retinal transition cell
RT-PCR reverse transcriptase PCR
SAC starburst amacrine cell
SD standard deviation
TUNEL terminal dUTP nick-end labelling
WT wild-type