Ayana Staples, “Cross Species Comparison of WT1 Expression during Optic Nerve Regeneration”
Mentor: Ava Udvadia, Biological Sciences
Poster #141

Glaucoma or serious injury to the optic nerve can lead to irreversible nerve damage and blindness. Unfortunately, mammals cannot fully regenerate neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) axons therefore cannot recover for CNS nerve injury. In contrast, many aquatic vertebrate species of fish, salamanders and frogs can fully recover function after CNS injury. The goal of the Udvadia Lab is to determine a program of gene expression that regulates successful optic nerve regeneration in animals that can regenerate. My research focuses on Wilms Tumor 1 (WT1), a gene that carries instructions to make an important protein for developmental processes and tissue regeneration. WT1 is one of the earliest transcription factors expressed during optic nerve regeneration in zebrafish. It is also predicted to regulate many other genes whose expression accompanies successful optic nerve regeneration in zebrafish. The purpose of my research is to determine if WT1 gene expression is similarly upregulated in response to optic nerve injury in other animals that can successfully regenerate their optic nerves. I will compare how WT1 expression is modulated in response to injury in three regenerative species zebrafish (D. rerio), axolotl (A. mexicanum), and the frog (X. laevis). For this project I will use QPCR to quantify WT1 expression in retinal tissue samples collected at various post-injury time points from zebrafish, axolotl, and Xenopus. WT1 gene expression is not upregulated in response to optic nerve damage in mammalian species, therefore, conserved temporal expression patterns across regenerative species would suggest an important role for WT1 in regulating gene expression that accompanies successful optic nerve regeneration.