{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T14:51:06Z","timestamp":1791989466272,"version":"4.4.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]]},"group-title":"Developmental Biology","reference-count":57,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]],"date-time":"2026-02-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771545600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"award":["2143217"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2143217"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/021nxhr62","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["R03 DE032047-01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R03 DE032047-01"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01cwqze88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["NEI-EY015387"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NEI-EY015387"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01cwqze88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["R01 EY016134"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01 EY016134"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01cwqze88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["R01 EY036440"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01 EY036440"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01cwqze88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02pjt4q95","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Microtubules are core cytoskeletal polymers that support epithelial organization, polarity, and tissue morphogenesis. They are composed of \u03b1\u2013 and \u03b2-tubulin heterodimers encoded by multigene families that generate closely related but distinct isotypes. Although several tubulin isotypes have been implicated in ocular development and disease, their spatial organization during corneal morphogenesis remains poorly defined. Here we establish a resource visualizing and quantifying tubulin isotype localization during corneal development using the chick embryo. Comparative amino acid sequence analysis demonstrates that chick and human \u03b1\u2013 and \u03b2-tubulin isotypes are highly conserved within structural and catalytic domains, with divergence concentrated in C-terminal regions normally associated with post-translational modification sites. Relating sequence features to tissue organization, we performed longitudinal immunohistochemical analysis of five tubulin isotypes across corneal development. These analyses reveal distinct and dynamic patterns of isotype enrichment along apicobasal axes, as well as stage-dependent redistribution during epithelial maturation and endothelial differentiation. TUBA5\/TUBA4A displays particularly restricted localization, including enrichment in migratory corneal stromal progenitors and the developing corneal epithelium and endothelium. Together, these data provide a conserved spatial framework for tubulin isotype organization during corneal morphogenesis and establish the chick embryo as a tractable model for investigating isotype-specific microtubule organization during epithelial development.<\/jats:p>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>This study provides a spatial and developmental resource that visualizes when and where distinct tubulin isotypes are deployed during corneal morphogenesis.<\/jats:p>\n                <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.02.19.706651","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]],"date-time":"2026-02-20T15:30:12Z","timestamp":1771601412000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["A developmental resource mapping tubulin isotype deployment during corneal morphogenesis"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9126-1585","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"R","family":"Ramarapu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, 1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA, 95616, USA"},{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"WR","family":"Stoehr","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, 1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA, 95616, USA"},{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"M","family":"Miesen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, 1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA, 95616, USA"},{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"S.","family":"Border","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5617-9677","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"SM","family":"Thomasy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, 1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA, 95616, USA"},{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9549-1089","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"CD","family":"Rogers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026101407350852000_2026.02.19.706651v3.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Aiken, J. , G. Buscaglia , E. A. Bates and J. K. Moore (2017). \u201cThe alpha-Tubulin gene TUBA1A in Brain Development: A Key Ingredient in the Neuronal Isotype Blend.\u201d J Dev Biol 5(3).","DOI":"10.3390\/jdb5030008"},{"key":"2026101407350852000_2026.02.19.706651v3.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1083\/jcb.110.1.97"},{"key":"2026101407350852000_2026.02.19.706651v3.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bao, M. , R. E. Dorig , P. M. Vazquez-Pianzola , D. Beuchle and B. Suter (2023). \u201cDifferential modification of the C-terminal tails of different alpha-tubulins and their importance for microtubule function in vivo.\u201d Elife 12.","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.87125"},{"issue":"6","key":"2026101407350852000_2026.02.19.706651v3.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"119241","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bbamcr.2022.119241","article-title":"Direct and indirect effects of tubulin post-translational modifications on microtubule stability: Insights and regulations","volume":"1869","year":"2022","journal-title":"Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Res"},{"issue":"1","key":"2026101407350852000_2026.02.19.706651v3.5","first-page":"1","article-title":"Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4","volume":"67","year":"2015","journal-title":"Journal of Statistical Software"},{"key":"2026101407350852000_2026.02.19.706651v3.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/awae193"},{"key":"2026101407350852000_2026.02.19.706651v3.7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1016702108"},{"key":"2026101407350852000_2026.02.19.706651v3.8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.exer.2011.06.004"},{"key":"2026101407350852000_2026.02.19.706651v3.9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Carmona, B. , H. 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