{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T13:11:36Z","timestamp":1785417096165,"version":"3.56.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,22]]},"group-title":"Developmental Biology","reference-count":43,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,22]],"date-time":"2026-03-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1774137600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"award":["R00EY030944"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R00EY030944"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03wkg3b53","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["R01EY037228"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01EY037228"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03wkg3b53","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,22]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Purpose<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic>Atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    is a transiently expressed developmental transcription factor that gives rise to the seven major retinal cell types. Despite this broad lineage,\n                    <jats:italic>Atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    is only required for retinal ganglion cell (RGC) genesis and survival, even though a significant portion of RGCs are\n                    <jats:italic>Atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    negative based on lineage tracing in mice, suggesting a cell nonautonomous role for\n                    <jats:italic>Atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    in the genesis and survival of all RGCs. Atoh7 function is conserved in zebrafish, yet the full retinal lineage, including the RGC population, has remained unidentified. Therefore, we sought to determine the\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    retinal lineage in wild type and\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    mutant zebrafish retinas.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                <\/jats:sec>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    We generated\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    :iCre transgenic zebrafish and in combination with the established\n                    <jats:italic>ubi<\/jats:italic>\n                    :Switch lineage trace permanently labeled cells that represent the\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    lineage. A combination of\n                    <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic>\n                    live imaging and immunohistochemical techniques were used to validate\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    :iCre transgene expression and the\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    lineage in embryonic, larval, and adult retinas as well as the adult brain.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                <\/jats:sec>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    The\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    :iCre;\n                    <jats:italic>ubi<\/jats:italic>\n                    :Switch transgene combination successfully recapitulated the onset of endogenous\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    expression and transgene fluorophores persisted into adulthood labeling the\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    lineage. Most notably, we determined 79% of total RGCs in the wild type retina come from\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7+<\/jats:italic>\n                    progenitor cells, a greater number than reported in the mouse retina. In\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    mutant retinas, we confirmed a complete loss of RGCs and observed a statistically significant increase in the proportion of\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    +\/Pax6+ amacrine cells, as well as an increase in the total number of Prox1+ bipolar cells. Interestingly, we discovered\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    + cells located outside the eye in other areas of the central nervous system.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                <\/jats:sec>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    These data demonstrate the presence of\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    positive and negative retinal cell types in the zebrafish retina, including RGCs, highlighting the potential to study survival mechanisms of\n                    <jats:italic>atoh7<\/jats:italic>\n                    negative RGCs and fate switch paradigms using zebrafish retinal development models.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.03.19.712911","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,22]],"date-time":"2026-03-22T23:20:11Z","timestamp":1774221611000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Lineage tracing reveals\n                  <i>atoh7<\/i>\n                  positive and negative retinal ganglion cell populations in the zebrafish retina"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7947-2347","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Darby M.","family":"Bennett","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA"},{"name":"Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robert I.","family":"Newland","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, Medical College 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