Fig. 6

Knockdown of kdm5c results in severe eye malformations and affects the expression of eye-specific genes. a At stage 40, kdm5c morphants exhibited eye defects, such as smaller eyes and optical fissures, compared with that of control embryos. The small and deformed eyes were effectively rescued by coinjection of kdm5c MO and kdm5c* RNA. Scale bar = 200 µm. b Statistical analysis of embryos with abnormal eyes revealed that more than 80% of kdm5c morphants exhibited abnormal eyes compared with that of control embryos. Rescue experiments effectively recovered the eye abnormalities. c Percentage of embryos with eye phenotypes, showing kdm5c morphant embryos with small eyes (21.75%) and deformed eyes (61.64%). Rescue experiments significantly recovered these eye defects, where only 11.05% of embryos had smaller eyes and 30.28% exhibited deformed eyes. d kdm5c morphants suffered from colobomas. The mild and severe phenotypes are shown along with statistical quantification. e WISH analysis of kdm5c-deficient embryos using dorsoventral patterning markers of the retina. vax1, vax2, pax6, and tbx5 expressions were significantly reduced on the injected side compared with the uninjected side. No significant change in marker expression was observed for control embryos. Statistical analysis of the data is provided. f Vibratome section analysis of embryos stained with retinal cell-specific markers (arr3, prox1, vsx1, and pax6). Perturbed expression of all tested marker genes indicated disturbed ganglion cell layers as well as retinal lamination defects. The mild and severe phenotypes are provided for all markers. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001. CTL, control