Fat3 and the Polarization of Retinal Circuits
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Fat3 is an enormous atypical cadherin that is related to the Fat family of tissue polarity molecules. We found that mutations in Fat3 disrupt multiple features of amacrine cell development that are all necessary for the formation of properly polarized circuits in the retina. Based on what is known about Fat3 function and the phenotypes we observe, we are pursuing the hypothesis that Fat3 influences multiple aspects of circuit polarity, including directed migration of amacrine cells, retraction of one process to assume a unipolar morphology, and then localizing synapses to the remaining process. We are using CRISPR/cas-9 approaches to mutated specific motifs in the Fat3 intracellular domain and determine how this one molecule is able to affect each feature of amacrine cell development. |
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