Temporal and Spatial Distribution of PAX6 Gene Expressionin the Developing Human Eye

摘要

The study of the molecular-genetic mechanisms ofregulation of organogenesis and ontogenesis is one ofthe key directions in modern biology. The eye is aunique model to studying these mechanisms. It isknown that eye morphogenesis is under the control of acascade of evolutionarily conserved homeobox-containing genes which are differentially expressed in thecourse of ontogenesis. Transcription factors of Pax,Prox, Six, Pitx, and some other families, which are activated at the earliest stages of embryogenesis, play thekey role in the regulation of eye development in vertebrates. Mutations at the genes encoding these factorsaffect the function of respective tissue-specic genesand cause various eye pathologies.