Figure 5.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition genes are highly enriched in the rRPE transcriptome, and extracellular matrix remodeling emerges as a defining feature of reprogramming. (a) Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was conducted using the dbEMT 2.0 database and revealed significant enrichment (false discovery rate [FDR] = 0.005) of EMT-associated genes in the rRPE relative to t-rRPE. The GSEA report displays genes associated with the term as black bars, and the running enrichment score is shown above in green. (b) Leading edge genes identified in (a) are displayed in a row-normalized heatmap to visualize changes in expression. (c) GSEA using the Matrisome database revealed Basement membrane-associated genes were significantly enriched in the intact RPE relative to the other combined conditions (t-rRPE and rRPE). Conversely, the Matrisome database terms ECM regulators (d) and Secreted factors (e) were significantly enriched in rRPE relative to the other conditions (RPE and t-rRPE), suggesting that extensive remodeling of the extracellular matrix, including degradation of the basement membrane, occurs in the presence of FGF2.