The Ciliopathy Gene ahi1 Is Required for Zebrafish Cone Photoreceptor Outer Segment Morphogenesis and Survival

摘要

PurposeJoubert syndrome (JBTS) is an autosomal recessive ciliopathy with considerable phenotypic variability. In addition to central nervous system abnormalities, a subset of JBTS patients exhibit retinal dystrophy and/or kidney disease. Mutations in the AHI1 gene are causative for approximately 10% of all JBTS cases. The purpose of this study was to generate ahi1 mutant alleles in zebrafish and to characterize the retinal phenotypes.