The functional role of protein O-mannosylation during eye development in zebrafish

• Applicant: Dr. Mark Lommel
• Subject Area: Developmental Biology
• Term: from 2011 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 200638234

Protein O-mannosylation represents a conserved, essential post-translational protein modification in eukaryotes. In human, defects in O-mannosylation cause congenital muscular dystrophies associated with severe defects in brain and ocular development. During the recent years advancement has been made in elucidating the molecular basis of these disorders focusing on understanding the Omannosy-lation of α-dystroglycan. However, the role of protein O-mannosylation in vertebrate organogenesis is still poorly understood.To address this in more detail I will use zebrafish as a model organism. I plan to further elucidate the impact of protein O-mannosylation on vertebrate eye development. The detailed analysis of ocular defects occurring in O-mannosylation-deficient fish will specify the developmental processes that depend on O-mannosylation during eye formation.The receptor tyrosine phosphatase β (PTPRZ1) is an O-mannosylated glycoprotein that will be studied in detail. PTPRZ1 has been implicated in retinal differentiation but the role of PTPRZ1 Omannosyla-tion for this process has not been analyzed so far.My work will significantly improve our understanding of protein O-mannosylation and its role in retina development.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants