A recent publication co-authored by Charles Ellis, a third year SoCoBio DTP student at the University of Southampton, presents a transcriptome-level study on retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells exposed to physiological “feeds” of photoreceptor outer segments (POS) across various timepoints. The RNA-sequencing study identified 44,909 genes which were then analysed for differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The study focuses on the cellular proteostasis network , including the autophagy-lysosomal, ubiquitin proteasome and chaperone-mediated pathways. Multiple genes were found to be differentially expressed within these pathways in response to POS cargo across the timepoints, of which the implications of these DEGs are discussed further. 

Overall, the study shows that long-term cultures of RPE cell-line monolayers recapitulate the broad mRNA profile of in-situ/native human RPE, alongside providing wider knowledge of transcriptomic responses to cargo and their processing in these cells.

You can read the full article here: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/14/15/1166?type=check_update&version=1