Researchers will have new insights into retinal genetic code

Australian scientists have led the development of the world's most detailed map of human retinal genes and provide new insights that could help future research to prevent and treat blindness.
The retina is the latest part of the human body and the first part of the human eye mapping project as part of the Human Cell Mapping Project - a global project to create a reference map of all human cells to better understand, diagnose and treat diseases.
is also the first time the Australian Group has contributed to the project.
the study, led by Dr Raymond Wong of the Australian Centre for Ophthalmology and the University of Melbourne, Dr Samuel Lukowski of the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland and Associate Professor Joseph Powell of the Garvan Institute of Medicine, was published in the Journal of molecular biology in Europe.

Dr Huang said the study provided unprecedented insight into the genetic signals of retinal cells - a thin layer of cells at the back of the eye that senses light and sends information to the brain through the optic nerve so that we can see it.
team studied the complex sequence of genes behind more than 20,000 independent cells to form a map of all the major cell types in the retina and their "expressions" to function properly.
cells mapped include photoreceptors that sense light and allow people to see it, retinal nerve cells that transmit information along the optic nerve to the brain, and other cells that support retinal function and stability.

"By creating a genetic map of the human retina, we can understand the factors that keep cells function and promote healthy vision," Dr. Huang said. Associate ProfessorPowell said the retinal cell map would benefit researchers studying hereditary retinal diseases, a genetic retinal disease that occurs when genetic "errors" cause retinal cells to stop functioning, leading to vision loss and blindness.
“ It is known that 200 genes are associated with retinal disease and have a detailed gene spectrum of individual retinal cell types, which will help us study how these genes affect different types of cells. This understanding is the first step in better identifying the causes of the disease and ultimately developing treatments.
Huang said the atlas will also help scientists research in the emerging field of cell therapy, which could replace defective retinal cells with new retinal cells that are induced by erythral stem cells in the lab.
“ The retinal cell map will provide scientists with a clear baseline to assess the quality of stem cell-sourced cells to determine whether they have the correct genetic code to make them work. Dr
Lukowski said: "This
offers extraordinary potential.
”now be able to provide communities with powerful disease prediction tools based on this healthy cell map, combined with cells from other retinal diseases, across different stages of human development," he said.
, according to Associate Professor Powell, "Cutting-edge cytogenomics will change our understanding of health and disease." Cytogenomics allows us to observe the human body at an unprecedented resolution. The insights that researchers around the world can gain from this atlas offer a whole new approach to treating and preventing eye diseases. ”（cyy123.com）