Single-Cell Gene Signature of Murine Retinal Ganglion Cells and Their Possible Implications in Tissue-Specific Functions: Insights from Human-Mouse Conserved Transcriptomics

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) process and convey information from the retina to visual centers in the brain. The output neurons comprise subpopulations with distinct dendritic architecture and axonal projection patterns with different functions. We used single-cell microarray transcriptomic data to identify the differential expressed gene in mouse retina. Microarray expression data included 14 Dissociated RGCs and 29 non-Dissociated RGCs samples. Dissociated RGCs refer to the isolation of individual RGCs from surrounding other retinal tissues and non-dissociated RGCs still in their natural state within the other intact retinal cells. It is known that Pvalb is one of the main biomarkers found in most RGC subtypes. Our research indicates that the transcripts highly correlated with Pvalb are directly linked to neurodegeneration diseases. Oxidative stress and mitochondrial health are more important in dissociated RGCs. Cytoskeletal dynamics and intracellular transport are more important in non-dissociated RGCs. To further investigate specific genes associated with RGCs and find out their involvement in retinal health and related neurodegenerative disease, 17 highly Differentially Expressed Genes (11 upregulated and 6 downregulated) were associated with their co-expressed genes and analyzed to identify their functions, through enrichment analysis. Specific enrichments highlighted visual and light stimulus perception, phototransduction, and calcium ion binding. These same DEGs were analyzed in other tissues and organs through human and mouse co-expression networks to further investigate other possible human-focused biological functions.