Single-cell analyses reveal transient retinal progenitor cells in the ciliary margin of developing human retina

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 3567
• Main Authors: Dorgau, Birthe, Collin, Joseph, Rozanska, Agata, Zerti, Darin, Unsworth, Adrienne, Crosier, Moira, Hussain, Rafiqul, Coxhead, Jonathan, Dhanaseelan, Tamil, Patel, Aara, Sowden, Jane C, FitzPatrick, David R, Queen, Rachel, Lako, Majlinda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 26.04.2024; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Cell Differentiation; Cell Lineage; Cell proliferation; Chromatin; Chromatin - metabolism; Differentiation; Eye; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Genetic factors; Genomes; Humans; Neural stem cells; Organoids; Organoids - cytology; Organoids - metabolism; Pluripotency; Pluripotent Stem Cells - cytology; Pluripotent Stem Cells - metabolism; Progenitor cells; Proliferation; Retina; Retina - cytology; Retina - metabolism; Retinal cells; RNA-Seq; Single-Cell Analysis - methods; Stem cells; Stem Cells - cytology; Stem Cells - metabolism; Transcription; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Transcriptome; Transcriptomics
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47933-x

The emergence of retinal progenitor cells and differentiation to various retinal cell types represent fundamental processes during retinal development. Herein, we provide a comprehensive single cell characterisation of transcriptional and chromatin accessibility changes that underline retinal progenitor cell specification and differentiation over the course of human retinal development up to midgestation. Our lineage trajectory data demonstrate the presence of early retinal progenitors, which transit to late, and further to transient neurogenic progenitors, that give rise to all the retinal neurons. Combining single cell RNA-Seq with spatial transcriptomics of early eye samples, we demonstrate the transient presence of early retinal progenitors in the ciliary margin zone with decreasing occurrence from 8 post-conception week of human development. In retinal progenitor cells, we identified a significant enrichment for transcriptional enhanced associate domain transcription factor binding motifs, which when inhibited led to loss of cycling progenitors and retinal identity in pluripotent stem cell derived organoids.