Neurexin Isoforms in Retina Structure and Function

The long-term goal of this project is understand the molecular interactome that establishes and maintains highly specialized retinal cell interactions that establish parallel pathways within the retina. The focus in this proposal is to determine the function of 3 Neurexin genes and their isoform specific expression pattern within the retina. Neurexins are trans-synaptic organizers that interact with several ligands and are important in establishing functional properties at excitatory and inhibitory synapses. Neurexins undergo extensive alternative splicing creating potentially hundreds of isoforms, which are known to be important in disease. However to date the role of this important class of protein in retina is unexplored. Emerging technologies ow make it possible to obtain a more complete picture of isoform structure in a tissue and/or specific cell types within a tissue. Therefore in the project we will,1) Determine the function of Neurexins in the retina, and 2) determine the retinal cell type expression pattern of Neurexin isoforms using single cell iso-Seq. At the completion of this project, we will have characterized, for the first time, the cell class specific expression of neurexins and their role in maintaining the structure and/or function of the first retinal synapse.