Takechi, M., Hamaoka, T. and Kawamura, S. (2003). Fluorescence visualization of ultraviolet-sensitive cone photoreceptor development in living zebrafish. FEBS Letters, 553 (1-2):90-94.


We established transgenic lines of zebrafish carrying green fluorescent protein (GFP) cDNA with the 5.5-kb upstream region of the ultraviolet-sensitive cone opsin gene (SWS1). In the transgenic fish, GFP gene expression proceeded in the same spatiotemporal pattern as SWS1 in the retinae of embryos. In the adult retina, GFP expression was observed throughout the short single cone (SSC) layer where SWS1 is specifically expressed. Therefore, the transgenic fish provides an excellent genetic background to study retinal pattern formation, photoreceptor determination and differentiation, and factors regulating these processes and SSC-specific expression of SWS1. (DC, double cone; LSC, long single cone; ROS, rod outer segments)