Using the Tg(nrd:egfp)/albino Zebrafish Line to Characterize In Vivo Expression of neurod

In this study, we used a newly-created transgenic zebrafish, Tg(nrd:egfp)/albino, to further characterize the expression of neurod in the developing and adult retina and to determine neurod expression during adult photoreceptor regeneration. We also provide observations regarding the expression of neurod in a variety of other tissues. In this line, EGFP is found in cells of the developing and adult retina, pineal gland, cerebellum, olfactory bulbs, midbrain, hindbrain, neural tube, lateral line, inner ear, pancreas, gut, and fin. Using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, we compare the expression of the nrd:egfp transgene to that of endogenous neurod and to known retinal cell types. Consistent with previous data based on in situ hybridizations, we show that during retinal development, the nrd:egfp transgene is not expressed in proliferating retinal neuroepithelium, and is expressed in a subset of retinal neurons. In contrast to previous studies, nrd:egfp is gradually re-expressed in all rod photoreceptors. During photoreceptor regeneration in adult zebrafish, in situ hybridization reveals that neurod is not expressed in Müller glial-derived neuronal progenitors, but is expressed in photoreceptor progenitors as they migrate to the outer nuclear layer and differentiate into new rod photoreceptors. During photoreceptor regeneration, expression of the nrd:egfp matches that of neurod. We conclude that Tg(nrd:egfp)/albino is a good representation of endogenous neurod expression, is a useful tool to visualize neurod expression in a variety of tissues and will aid investigating the fundamental processes that govern photoreceptor regeneration in adults.


Introduction
NeuroD is a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor that plays a common role in persistently mitotic cells as an essential link between cell cycle exit, cell fate determination, and cell survival [1]. In the vertebrates, neurod is expressed in areas of the brain including the cortex, cerebellum, olfactory bulb, eye, and midbrain [1,2,3,4]. Neurod is also expressed in the developing endocrine pancreas [5], the auditory and vestibular neuroblasts of the developing inner ear [6], and the lateral line of teleost fish [7]. In both mice and zebrafish, neurogenin is expressed in cells prior to neurod, [2,4] and overexpression of the neurogenin homolog in Xenopus (X-NGNR-1) induces ectopic expression of Xneurod mRNA [8], suggesting that neurogenin is an upstream regulator of neurod . During both zebrafish and mammalian retinogenesis, neurod is first expressed in retinal neuroepithelial cells as they exit the cell cycle. Once distinct cell types have formed, neurod is expressed in a subset of cells in both the inner nuclear layer (INL) and outer nuclear layer (ONL), but not in the ganglion cell layer (GCL) [1,9]. By adulthood, neurod expression was previously reported to persist in a subset of amacrine cells nascent cone photoreceptors near the retinal margins [1,10].
NeuroD functions in both neuronal and non-neuronal tissues and its specific role appears to be dependent of the mitotic state of the cell. In mitotic cells, NeuroD specifically regulates proliferation [11,12] and cell cycle exit [13]. This was first demonstrated in Xenopus embryos where ectopic expression of Xneurod results in premature differentiation of neuronal precursors [11]. In postmitotic cells, loss of NeuroD function can result in cell death during after cell differentiation [12,14,15,16]. For example, NeuroD-null mice are deaf due to apoptosis of the otic epithelium and neurons that form the cochlear-vestibular ganglion [14]. In addition, loss of NeuroD in mice also causes age-related rod photoreceptor degeneration [16].
During mouse retinogenesis, neurod expression in retinal progenitors promotes the genesis of neurons versus glial cells, and specifically promotes amacrine cell fates versus bipolar cell fates [9,17]. In the developing chick retina, NeuroD is necessary and sufficient for photoreceptor differentiation [18,19]. During zebrafish retinogenesis, NeuroD regulates exit from the cell cycle among late-stage photoreceptor progenitors [20].
The zebrafish is a unique model because of its ability fully regenerate a variety of tissues, including the fin [21,22], heart [23], spinal cord [24] and retina [25]. Numerous approaches have been developed to induce retinal regeneration, including cytotoxins [26], [27,28], laser ablation [29], stab wound [30] and constant intense light treatment, which selectively kills rod and cone photoreceptors [25,31]. Whereas each of these methods is unique in its severity of injury and selectivity of cellular damage, the mechanisms of regeneration are conserved. Cell death elicits a subset of Müller glial cells to reenter the cell cycle and generate retinal progenitors that differentiate into all the retinal cell types lost to the original injury [25,32].
In this study, the Tg(nrd:egfp)/albino zebrafish line was used to characterize neurod expression. In this line, the transgene is expressed in the CNS, including the retina, olfactory bulbs, midbrain, hindbrain, neural tube, lateral line, inner ear and visceral organs, including the pancreas and gut. A detailed analysis of neurod expression, as evidenced by EGFP localization, is shown during retinal development in larvae and photoreceptor regeneration in adults. During regeneration we show that the neurod transgene in not expressed in Müller glial cells as they reenter the cell cycle, nor is it expressed in their immediate progeny. However, the transgene is expressed in progenitors of the regenerating photoreceptors as they exit the cell cycle and begin differentiating. We find that this neurod transgene is a useful tool to visualize neurod expression during the development of multiple organ systems and during the dynamic process of adult retinal regeneration.

Ethics Statement
All protocols used in this study were approved by the animal use committee at the University of Notre Dame and Wayne State University School of Medicine (Protocol # A040310) and are in compliance with the ARVO statement for the use of animals in vision research.

The Tg(nrd:egfp) line and zebrafish maintenance
The Tg(nrd:egfp) line was obtained as a gift from Alex Nechiporuk, who generated the line [33]. Briefly, a BAC clone (dK33b12) was isolated that contained 67 kilobase pairs (kb) of sequence upstream and 89 kb of sequence downstream of neurod. Recombineering resulted in egfp positioned at the endogenous start site. This construct (ZFIN ID: ZDB-TGCONSTRCT-080701-1) was used to make transgenic animals. Adult fish positive for the transgene were out-crossed to albino mutants. Fish were fed a combination of brine shrimp and flake food three times daily and maintained under a daily light cycle of 14 hours light (250 lux):10 hours dark at 28.5uC [34].

Constant intense-light treatment protocol
Photoreceptor degeneration was accomplished by constant intense-light treatment as previously described [25]. Adult Tg(nrd:egfp)/albino zebrafish were subjected to dark adaptation for 10 days, and then transferred to a clear 1.8 liter tank positioned between 4 halogen lamps (250 watts). The fish were continuously exposed to the light (8000 lux) for up to four days, at which time they were returned to standard light/dark conditions. During the light treatment, water temperature remained between 30-33u C.

EdU labeling of retinal progenitors
59-ethynyl-29-deoxyuridine (EdU; Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) was diluted in 1XPBS to 1 mg/mL and injected intraperitoneally (50 microliters) into adult Tg(nrd:egfp)/albino zebrafish. Two injection protocols were used. In order to label all of the progenitors, daily injections were performed throughout the light treatment [35]. In order to label a subset of the progenitors, a single injection was performed immediately prior to starting the light treatment. Eyes were harvested 96 hours after light onset and processed for immunohistochemistry as described below. For EdU immunolocalization, Click-iT EdU AlexaFluor 594 Imaging Kit was performed per the manufacturer's instructions (Invitrogen), followed by EGFP immunolocalization as described below.

Wholemount brightfield and fluorescent imaging
Live transgenic embryos and adult fish were anesthetized with 2-phenoxyethanol prior to microscopy. Images were captured on a Spot digital camera (Diagnostic Instruments; Sterling Heights, MI, USA) attached to a Leica M165 FC stereomicroscope.
For controls and those receiving photolytic lesions, fish were euthanized and their eyes were harvested at various times after light onset: 0, 42, 72, or 96 hours, or 7 or 11 days. Eye tissue was fixed in either 4% paraformaldehyde in 5% sucrose/16 PBS or 9:1 ethanolic formaldehyde (100% ethanol: 36% formaldehyde) overnight at 4u C, cryoprotected and embedded in TFM . Eyes were cryosectioned at 18 mm and sections were transferred to glass slides, dried at 56u C for 2 hours, and stored at 280u C.
Immunohistochemistry was performed as previously described [32]. The following primary antibodies and dilutions were used: chicken anti-insulin polyclonal antisera

RNA in situ hybridization and subsequent immunohistochemistry
For in situ hybridizations, eyes were dissected and preserved (as described above), cryosectioned at 10 mm and processed as described previously (Ochocinska and Hitchcock, 2009). Briefly, sections were rehydrated in decreasing concentrations of ethanol, permeabilized with Proteinase K, and treated with acetic anhydride to reduce non-specific binding of the probe. The 2,158 basepair Digoxygenin-labeled probe was synthesized from a full-length cDNA of neurod (kindly provided by Zhiyuan Gong, National University of Singapore) [2]. The probe was applied to the sections and incubated overnight at 55u C. Sections were then washed at 55u C to remove unbound probe, and processed for immunocytochemistry with antibodies against DIG that were conjugated to alkaline phosphatase. NBT/BCIP (Roche) was used as a substrate for the alkaline phosphatase. The reaction was stopped (generally after 1 hr) with Tris-HCl buffer at pH 8.0. The reaction product was preserved by briefly fixing the sections with 4% paraformaldehyde prior to the GFP immunohistochemistry (see above).

Tg(nrd:egfp) expression is observed in multiple tissues from embryonic development through adulthood
The expression of the nrd:egfp transgene was first examined by wholemount fluorescence microscopy. Consistent with previously submitted gene expression data of endogenous neurod [36], the transgene is not maternally expressed (data not shown), and was not observed during gastrulation at 6 hours post-fertilization (Fig. 1A). EGFP expression was first observed at 24 hours postfertilization (hpf) in the olfactory bulbs, pineal gland, inner ear, midbrain, hindbrain, pancreas and neural tube (Fig. 1B, C), but was not observed in the developing eye (Fig. 1C). This expression pattern was identical to the previously reported expression pattern of endogenous neurod [36]. In the developing zebrafish retina, endogenous neurod was first observed in the ventral nasal patch at 31 hpf [1] (Fig. 1E), which coincides with the initiation of a ventral-to-dorsal wave of neurogenesis. At 32 hpf, very weak EGFP expression (note the over-saturation of the surrounding tissues) was observed in the retina immediately dorsal to the ventral nasal patch (Fig. 1F). At 48 hpf, EGFP-positive cells were observed throughout the inner retina (Fig. 1G, arrows) and outer retina (Fig. 1G, arrowhead), indicating that the wave of neurogenesis had completed. Persistent EGFP expression was also observed in areas of the central nervous system, lateral line, and the pancreas (Fig. 1H-L).
In the adult zebrafish, we observed persistent and intense EGFP expression in the eye, pineal gland, and cerebellum (Fig. 2B, D and F). This is consistent with previous reports indicating expression of endogenous neurod in the adult pineal gland [2,37] and cerebellum [38,39]. Expression was also observed surrounding the anus (Fig. 2H and I). Closer examination of the zebrafish body revealed weak EGFP expression in an extension of the lateral line, which was especially visible near the tail fin girdle ( Fig. 2J and K). This expression revealed intricate nerve arborization and synaptic boutons ( Fig. 2K and L). In addition, EGFP expression was observed in ganglia associated with the nerve that extends through each bony hemiray of the caudal fin, which are anchored in the fin girdle and give support for fin structure (Fig. 3B, C9, D9). The transgene is not upregulated in the wound epithelium or proliferative blastema during fin regeneration, but is re-expressed in ganglia associated with the regenerating nerve (data not shown). In addition, EGFP was observed in the adult endocrine pancreas and in presumptive enteroendocrine cells in the gut epithelium. Specifically, EGFP co-labeled with Insulin in the endocrine pancreas, but was not expressed in the surrounding exocrine pancreas (Fig. 4A90). Finally, EGFP was observed in a small number of cells within the intestinal epithelium ( Fig. 4B and C). Neurod has previously been shown to be expressed in enteroendocrine cells and be required for proper enteroendocrine cell differentiation. Based on these data and the location, distribution, and morphology of the EGFP-positive cells observed in the gut, the transgene appears to label both endocrine cells of the pancreas and enteroendocrine cells in the adult gut.
The nrd:egfp transgene is expressed in cells as they exit the cell cycle and in a subset of differentiated retinal neurons During retinal development in zebrafish, neurod is required for photoreceptor progenitors to exit the cell cycle [20]. We examined expression of the nrd:egfp transgene in relationship to retinal progenitors immunolabled with Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA), a marker for proliferating cells [25,40]. At 42 hpf, we observed PCNA-positive cells restricted to the circumferential marginal zone (CMZ) and EGFP expression in the central retina with colocalization of cells in the overlapping regions of EGFP and PCNA expression (Fig.5A). Following retinal lamination, at 72 and 96 hpf, PCNA-positive cells were restricted to the CMZ and no longer colocalized with the transgene, and EGFP expression was seen in a subset of amacrine and bipolar cells ( Fig. 5B and C).
Closer examination of the nrd:egfp transgene expression during retinal development and in adulthood revealed similarities and differences between EGFP expression and the previous report of endogenous neurod expression. Similar to the previous observation [1], EGFP expression was not observed in undifferentiated neuroepithelium 24 hpf (Fig. 6A) and at no age was EGFP observed in the retinal progenitors located in the circumferential marginal zone (CMZ) (Figs. 5 and 6). EGFP was first observed in the retina immediately adjacent to the ventral nasal patch at 32 hpf (Fig. 6B). EGFP expression expanded throughout the inner and outer retina at 48 hpf ( Fig. 6C). At 72 hpf, endogenous neurod expression was reported to be expressed only in amacrine cells and in the ONL [1]. In contrast, EGFP was present in a subset of ganglion cells, amacrine cells, and bipolar cells, but was not detected in the ONL (Fig. 6D). In addition, the EGFP signal grew slowly in the population of rod photoreceptors, starting at 2 weeks post fertilization (wkpf) (Fig. 6F), and was present in all rod photoreceptors in adults (Fig. 6H). Although expression in the ONL and bipolar cells was not reported previously, we find that endogenous neurod is expressed in each of these cell types in adults ( Fig. 6I-I0). Specifically, weak expression of neurod was observed in  the ONL, with strong expression in the rod photoreceptor inner segments. In the INL, every EGFP-positive cell exhibited at least some neurod expression. However, many cells that were strongly expressing neurod, showed only weak EGFP, and vice versa, perhaps reflecting the dynamic regulation of neurod transcription in these neurons.
Adult retinas were characterized further using morphological analysis and antibody markers to identify cell types that express the nrd:egfp transgene. EGFP was observed in all rod photoreceptor cell bodies and in rod inner and outer segments ( Fig. 7A and B9), but not in double cones (Fig. 7C and D9). Further, EGFP was observed in a subset of the amacrine cells, and very weak expression was detected in a small population of ganglion cells (Fig. 7E and F9), but not observed in Müller glia ( Fig. 7G and H9). Since adult zebrafish contain at least 17 subtypes of bipolar cells, EGFPpositive bipolar cells were identified by the location, size and shape of the somata, shape of the dendritric tree, and the sublaminal innervation level in the inner plexiform layer (IPL). Based on the previously described characteristics of each subtype, we observed seven subtypes of EGFP-positive OFF bipolar cells (B off -s1, B off -s2w, B off -s3, B off -s1/s2, B off -s1/s3, B off -s2/s3, and B off -s1/s4) in adult nrd:egfp retinas, including many cases where the projections could be traced from the photoreceptors to the IPL (Fig. 7F9).

Tg(nrd:egfp) expression in the light-damaged adult zebrafish retina
We examined the spatial and temporal expression of the nrd:egfp transgene following photolytic lesions and during photoreceptor regeneration. Specifically, we examined expression of the nrd:egfp transgene in relationship to retinal progenitors immunolabled with PCNA and Müller glia immunolabeled with Glutamine Synthetase. In the INL, 48 hours after light onset, Müller glial reenter the cell cycle and express PCNA ( Fig. 8A; see Vihtelic and Hyde 2000). At this time, EGFP was not detected in the Glutamine Synthetase-positive Müller glial or their immediate progeny ( Fig. 8A and B). At 72 and 96 hours after light onset, large numbers of progenitor cells were observed ( Fig. 8C and D). Very weak EGFP expression was also observed in clusters of cells in the INL (Fig. 8E and F). Further characterization of these EGFPpositive clusters revealed a down-regulation of Glutamine Synthetase (Fig. 8G and H) and PCNA co-immunolocalization ( Fig. 8I-L9). This is consistent with a previous report that showed that Müller glia down-regulate cell-specific markers after the reenter the cell cycle to produce large clusters of PCNA-positive  progenitors [32]. At 96 hours after light onset, weak, somewhat disorganized, EGFP-positive cells were present in the ONL (Fig. 8F), and co-labeled with PCNA (Fig. 8K). 7 days after light onset, proliferating cells in the INL were not observed, however, EGFP co-labeled with a large number of PCNA-positive progenitors in the ONL (Fig. 8G). 11 days after light onset, the transgene was weakly expressed in the newly formed rod photoreceptors in the ONL (Fig. 8H).
A closer examination of the outer retina was performed using Zpr-3, which labels rod photoreceptor outer segments. 48 hours after light onset, the number of EGFP-positive rod photoreceptors was greatly reduced, along with their Zpr-3-positive outer segments (cf. Figs. 9A and 9B). By 72 hours after light onset, newly-formed rod progenitors were observed in the ONL (Fig. 9C). These could be readily discerned from existing rod photoreceptors due to their comparatively weak expression of the transgene (Fig. 9C, inset). 96 hours after light onset, the number of EGFPpositive rod progenitors was greatly increased, although they were still somewhat disorganized (Fig. 9D). 7 days after light onset, the newly formed rod photoreceptors had become more organized (Fig. 9E) and 11 days after light onset regenerated rod inner segments and Zpr-3-positive outer segments were observed (Fig. 9F). Full regeneration of rod outer segments was not achieved until 28 days after light onset (data not shown).
In order to determine whether the weakly-EGFP positive cells in the ONL (Fig. 9C, inset) were derived from progenitors or were undamaged photoreceptors that simply down-regulated EGFP, we performed an EdU labeling experiment. As was previously reported [35], daily injections of EdU following light onset results in labeling of many, if not all, of the neuronal progenitors. We repeated this method (Fig. 10A) and found that at 96 hours after light onset all the weakly-EGFP-positive cells in both the INL and ONL were also EdU-positive (Fig. 10B, B9). For a better resolution of individual cells in the ONL, we performed a single injection of EdU immediately prior to the light treatment, which only labeled a subset of the progenitors. At 96 hours after light onset, we found that the EdU-positive cells in the ONL were weakly stained with EGFP (Fig. 10F, F9), indicating that they were derived from progenitors. Importantly, with either injection method, we found that none of the strongly-EGFP-positive rod nuclei in the ONL were EdU positive (Fig. 10B, B9, F, F9), indicating that this line can be used to distinguish between undamaged and newly-formed rod photoreceptors.

Tg(nrd:egfp) expression in comparison to endogenous neurod expression during photoreceptor regeneration
In situ hybridization was used to compare endogenous and transgenic expression of neurod during photoreceptor regeneration.
Prior to light treatment, dark-adapted adult Tg(nrd:egfp)/albino retinas showed endogenous neurod in a subset of amacrine and bipolar cells in the INL, weak expression in rod photoreceptor soma, and strong expression in rod inner segments (Figs. 6I, 11A). The expression of endogenous neurod in the rod inner segments was not observed in non-dark treated animals (data not shown), indicating dynamic expression changes of neurod in photoreceptors during dark adaptation. Similarly, EGFP was strongly expressed in all rod photoreceptors, and a subset of amacrine and bipolar cells (Fig. 11B). 72 hours after light onset, nearly all rod and cone photoreceptors are destroyed ( Fig. 10D and E, asterisk). Endogenous neurod was observed in isolated INL progenitors as they migrated to the ONL (Fig. 11F9). Weak EGFP expression was observed in these cells using GFP immunohistochemistry alone ( Fig. 8E and F), but not when GFP immunohistochemistry was combined with in situ hybridizations. At 7 days after light onset, two distinct bands of endogenous and transgenic neurod were observed in the ONL (Fig. 11G and H). EGFP was observed in a band of the cell bodies of newly regenerated rods immediately adjacent to the outer plexiform layer (i.e. toward the inner retina) (Fig. 11I9). Endogenous neurod was strongly expressed in a band of rod cell bodies immediately distal to the EGFP band (Fig. 11I9), with only an occasional co-labeling among the cells residing in these two bands (Fig. 11I9).

Discussion
To evaluate the utility of the nrd:egfp transgenic line, we compared the expression of the transgene to that of endogenous neurod during retinal development, in the adult retina and during photoreceptor regeneration. Previously, RNA in situ hybridization showed that during early retinogenesis neurod is first expressed in the ventral nasal patch and then throughout the neuroepithelium. Subsequently, neurod is transiently expressed in the nascent photoreceptors in the outer nuclear layer and persistently expressed in a subset of amacrine cells in the inner nuclear layer [1]. Similarly, we show that the nrd:egfp transgene is initially expressed adjacent to the ventral nasal patch (Figs. 1F and 6B), and then throughout the neuroepithelium and nascent photoreceptor layer (Fig. 6C). In contrast to the in situ data, however, EGFP is also present in bipolar cells, in a small fraction of rod photoreceptors at 2 wkpf, and in all rod photoreceptor cell bodies at adulthood.
There are potential explanations for the subtle temporal and cellular disparities in the expression of neurod, as detected by in situ hybridizations, and the expression of the nrd:egfp transgene. One possibility is that the neurod transgene lacks a required silencer or is influenced by neighboring enhancers near the site of integration. However, it would have to lie far outside the coding region, as the transgene contains 67 kb of sequence upstream and 89 kb of sequence downstream of neurod open reading frame [33]. Another possibility is that mature bipolar cells and rod photoreceptors, not observed following in situ hybridizations, produce very low levels of endogenous neurod, and the stability of EGFP more readily allows for the detection of these cells. In support of this interpretation, prior to light treatment we observed weak expression of endogenous neurod in all rod photoreceptor cells by in situ hybridization, and strong expression of EGFP in the same cells (Figs. 6I-I09, 11A and B).
We observed both overlapping and distinct expression profiles for endogenous and transgenic neurod expression during retinal regeneration. In both cases, neurod was not observed in dividing Müller glia or in the early stages of neuronal progenitor amplification. Both endogenous and transgenic neurod were first observed in INL progenitors in later stages of proliferation as these progenitors were migrating to the ONL (Fig. 11F9 and 8E). At this point endogenous neurod expression is very strong in these progenitors, whereas EGFP is very weak (cf. Figs. 11F9and 8E). By 3 days post light treatment, two distinct bands of expression were observed. At this point, endogenous neurod is downregulated in the first wave of newly regenerated rod photoreceptors that are closest to the INL, whereas EGFP was strongly expressed in these cells. In contrast, endogenous neurod is highly expressed in the next wave of rod photoreceptors located distal to the first band of cells, but EGFP is not yet present. These differences in endogenous and transgene expression may be explained by dynamic changes in endogenous neurod expression compared to the relatively long (,24 hour) half-life of EGFP. In each case, endogenous neurod expression proceeded EGFP expression and EGFP was visualized after the downregulation of endogenous neurod.
Expression of neurod is often found in tissues with persistent mitotic activity. Although the zebrafish retina continues to grow throughout its life, we did not observe the neurod transgene in known locations of persistent neurogenesis in the retina. For example, consistent with previously published in situ hybridizations, neurod transgene expression was not observed during retinogenesis in the progenitors located in the circumferential marginal zone (CMZ), but did overlap with PCNA-positive cells as they exit the CMZ and begin differentiating (Fig. 5A). Similarly, during retinal regeneration, endogenous and transgenic neurod was not observed in Müller glial or their immediate progeny, but in later stage progenitors prior to photoreceptor differentiation (Figs. 8, 10, 11). This is consistent with anti-sense morpholino studies in early zebrafish development which show that in the absence of NeuroD, rod and cone progenitors fail to exit the cell cycle [20]. In addition, the developing chick retina requires neurod for photoreceptor differentiation [18,19]. Together, these data suggest that the major function of NeuroD in the developing retina is in regulating mechanisms that promote cell cycle exit. It has yet to be determined whether NeuroD plays a similar role during retinal regeneration in the adult.
One potential use would be to utilize the line to visualize the reestablishment of the synapses connecting rod photoreceptor and bipolar cells. During intense light damage, rod photoreceptors are lost, but the underlying bipolar cells remain (Fig. 9B). Once disconnected from the photoreceptor, the bipolar cell processes hypertrophy and bud out, presumably in an attempt to re-establish the lost connection (data not shown). Once the new photoreceptor is regenerated, this connection is re-established. Since a subset of bipolar cells and newly formed rod photoreceptors are both EGFP-positive, this line could be used for in vivo imaging and genetic manipulation of this dynamic and poorly understood process.
This line also has potential uses for studies on the endocrine pancreas. NeuroD has been shown to be expressed in the endocrine pancreas in a variety of vertebrates [5,41]. Loss of NeuroD in mice results in abnormal pancreatic b-cell maturation and function [42], severe hyperglycemia and neonatal death [43]. We show the neurod transgene is expressed the endocrine pancreas and could be used as a visual marker for b-cell function, particularly in the growing field using zebrafish as a vertebrate model for diabetes [44,45,46].
In summary, given the diverse areas of neurod expression in the developing and adult zebrafish, we anticipate that the Tg(nrd:egfp)/ alb line will be a useful tool in multiple disciplines, including future studies on photoreceptor differentiation and retinal progenitor proliferation.