Candidate Genes Involved in Establishment of the Connection between Retina and Superior Colliculus

The proper neural connection controls variant neurological functions in the nervous system. The mutation and disruption in neural connections lead to neurological malfunction and diseases. The nervous system is composed of several neural connections in different areas. One of these examples is the connection between the retina and the superior colliculus, namely retino-collicular connection. The retina is a neural part of the eye and has a role in image processing and vision. The superior colliculus is a midbrain structure and plays a role in innate behaviors and head and eyes movement. The correct development of the retino-collicular connection is integral for proper visual processing. Axon guidance, cell-cell adhesion, and synaptic formation are some of the developmental processes that are involved in the establishment of the retino-collicular connection. Many genes regulate these processes during embryonic and postnatal developmental periods. Here in this research, new candidates which can be involved in the establishment of the retino-collicular connection are investigated by bioinformatics tools and transcriptomics databases such as gene ontology, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and single cell databases. Finally, five potential families with different developmental functions were chosen and evaluated for the final conclusion. Slit/Robos (Slit1/2, Robo1/2), Neuropilins (Nrp1/2), Cadherins type II (Cdh6/7/8), Neurofascin (Nfasc), Neuroligins (NLGN1/2/3) are our candidates’ gene for this research. Keywords: Retino collicular connection, Axon guidance, Cell adhesion, Synaptic formation, Bioinformatics tools, Transcriptomics data, Slit/Robo, Neuropilin, Cadherins, Neurofascin, Neuroligins.