Xenopus pax6 mutants affect eye development and other organ systems, and have phenotypic similarities to human aniridia patients.

Mutations in the Pax6 gene cause ocular defects in both vertebrate and invertebrate animal species, and the disease aniridia in humans. Despite extensive experimentation on this gene in multiple species, including humans, we still do not understand the earliest effects on development mediated by this gene. This prompted us to develop pax6 mutant lines in Xenopus tropicalis taking advantage of the utility of the Xenopus system for examining early development and in addition to establish a model for studying the human disease aniridia in an accessible lower vertebrate. We have generated mutants in pax6 by using Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nuclease (TALEN) constructs for gene editing in X. tropicalis. Embryos with putative null mutations show severe eye abnormalities and changes in brain development, as assessed by changes in morphology and gene expression. One gene that we found is downregulated very early in development in these pax6 mutants is myc, a gene involved in pluripotency and progenitor cell maintenance and likely a mediator of some key pax6 functions in the embryo. Changes in gene expression in the developing brain and pancreas reflect other important functions of pax6 during development. In mutations with partial loss of pax6 function eye development is initially relatively normal but froglets show an underdeveloped iris, similar to the classic phenotype (aniridia) seen in human patients with PAX6 mutations. Other eye abnormalities observed in these froglets, including cataracts and corneal defects, are also common in human aniridia. The frog model thus allows us to examine the earliest deficits in eye formation as a result of pax6 lesions, and provides a useful model for understanding the developmental basis for the aniridia phenotype seen in humans.

[Glaucoma in aniridia]. / Le glaucome dans l'aniridie.

Aniridia consists in a congenital absence of the iris, with incidence varying from 1/64,000 to 1/96,000. This complex embryologic malformation involves the iris, trabecula, and cornea with limbal stem cell deficiency. Aniridia is a genetic haplo-insufficiency expression of the PAX6 gene located on chromosome 11p13. The associated clinical ocular signs could be congenital cataract, congenital glaucoma (the most common complication), keratopathy, ptosis, nystagmus, foveal aplasia, or microphthalmia. More than half of aniridic patients will develop glaucoma, so a regular complete tensional check-up is recommended. Central pachymetry is thicker than in the general population and overestimates ocular pressure if a corrective coefficient is not used. When glaucoma is diagnosed, medical or surgical treatment should be adapted to the child's age. In younger children, trabeculotomy is preferable to trabeculectomy in the first step if the cornea is clear enough. In older children or teenagers, a classical medical treatment must be initiated first, but surgical treatment will often be needed later. Trabeculectomy is the surgical procedure to choose for these older patients or can be combined with cataract surgery in adults. In severe glaucoma, after failure of trabeculectomy with or without mitomycin C, glaucoma surgery with drainage placement could be necessary to control ocular pressure and preserve vision. The outcome of glaucoma in aniridia is always severe and requires medical and surgical treatment adapted from infancy to adulthood.

Pax and vertebrate development.

Pax genes encode transcription factors sharing a highly conserved sequence, the paired box. Their temporally and spatially restricted expression patterns during development indicate that Pax genes are involved in important steps of nervous system formation. Mutations in Pax genes have been correlated with three mouse mutants (undulated, splotch, small eye) and two human diseases (Waardenburg syndrome, aniridia). Recent data demonstrated that deregulation of Pax genes contributes to tumor formation.

Small eye (Sey): cloning and characterization of the murine homolog of the human aniridia gene.

Phenotypic parallels and genetic evidence from comparative mapping suggest that the murine Small eye (Sey) and human aniridia (AN) disorders are homologous. This report describes the isolation of a murine embryonic cDNA that is structurally homologous to the AN cDNA were recently cloned. The murine cDNA detects a 2.7-kb transcript in the adult mouse eye and cerebellum and in human glioblastomas, suggesting a neuroectodermal involvement in the etiology of Sey/AN. Sequence comparison between the murine and the human cDNAs revealed extensive homology in nucleotide sequence (greater than 92%) and virtual identity at the amino acid level. None of the differing amino acids was located within the paired box and homeobox DNA-binding domains. These results provide evidence for a common molecular basis underlying the two genetic disorders and suggest that the Sey system would be an authentic model for human AN.

Wilms tumour: a developmental anomaly.

Wilms tumour (WT) is a developmental anomaly of the kidney which results from loss of function of at least one so called tumour suppressor gene on chromosome 11. The position of the gene at chromosome 11p13 is known through the association of WT with aniridia (lack of an iris), mental retardation and genitourinary abnormalities in the WAGR syndrome. Here we discuss the high resolution mapping studies to locate the position of the gene and conclude that the gonadal abnormalities in WAGR patients may be due to a defect in the WT gene itself. In support of this role in genitourinary development we show that a candidate WT gene is expressed in specific regions of the developing kidney and in fetal and embryonic gonads.