The phenotype of the good effort mutant zebrafish is retinal degeneration by cell death and is linked to the chromosome assembly factor 1b gene

Abstract

In a screen to identify zebrafish eye mutants, we isolated the good effort (gef) mutant. The retina of gef embryos is characterized by the successful initiation of the optic primordium and normal retinal development over the first 2 days post fertilization (dpf). The mutant retina, however, fails to continue to grow. Embryos from gef heterozygous incrosses were analyzed for cell death by acridine orange and by TUNEL labeling at 2 dpf. Significantly more TUNEL-positive and acridine orange-labeled dying cells were found in gef mutant embryos at 2 dpf relative to wild-type embryos. Because this time was earlier than any observable gross morphological differences, this cell death was likely the cause of the gross morphological defects. Meiotic mapping localized the mutation interval to a one-megabase interval on zebrafish chromosome 9.