Ascl1 Promotes Rod Photoreceptor Differentiation and Represses Müller Glial and Bipolar Cell Differentiation from Late-Stage Retinal Progenitor Cells [ATAC-seq]

However, the regenerative outcome remains far from ideal, and the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. As the last cell type generated by late-stage retinal progenitor cells (RPCs), Müller glial cells share greater similarity with late RPCs—at both the transcriptional and epigenetic levels—than any other retinal cell type.

In this study, we employed late RPCs as a model system to investigate how Ascl1 overexpression reprograms the retinogenic competence of late RPCs, and to explore the associated transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms.