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. 2018 Nov 5;217(11):3993–4006. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201704076

Figure 7.

Figure 7.

Acute depletion of ELKS in retina induces apoptotic cell death in photoreceptors, which can be prevented by simultaneous expression of CAST. (A) Acute induction of ELKS cKO by injection of AAV5-CAGGS-nCre in ELKSfl/fl retina (Cre+) showed multiple TUNEL positive cells in the ONL, while no TUNEL-positive cells were observed in Cre negative retinae (Cre−). ELKS expression in the OPL was ablated in ELKSfl/fl Cre+ retina (arrows). (B–E) Acute depletion of ELKS by AAV5-CAGGS-nCre in CAST KO; ELKSfl/fl mice were effectively rescued by simultaneous injection of AAV5-CAGGS-CAST-IRES-Venus. The ONL thickness was not significantly decreased (C; Cre− [n = 18], Cre+ CAST-Venus [n = 19]). In contrast, the simultaneous injection of AAV5-IRES-Venus failed to rescue the significant reduction of ONL thickness (E; Cre− [n = 10], Cre+ Venus [n = 16]); mean ± SEM; *, P < 0.05 (two-sided Student’s t test). Bars, 50 µm in A, 20 µm in B and D. (F and G) Simplified schematic model summarizing the findings from photoreceptors by ELKS ablation. Acute ELKS depletion after maturation of retinal network induces degeneration of photoreceptors (light green and white cells), which was further enhanced in the CAST KO retina.