Eye-dentity

Every actor wants the lead, but without supporting cast and backstage crew, the show could not go on. A study has identified a director in the developing eye, guiding key casting decisions to keep everything running smoothly. Smarcc1 acts as a switch, directing developing cells to become astrocytes – essential support cells that allow neurons to shine. The team found that mice without Smarcc1 developed progressive vision decline and a malformed optic nerve head, as crucial cells failed to switch their identity to astrocytes. They observed Smarcc1 (green in a mouse eye at birth, left) associated with early progenitor cells, while a related protein, Smarcc2 (red, right), was more prominent in more mature cells, fine-tuning development. The optic nerve head is a major site of damage in glaucoma, and Smarcc1 is part of a complex involved in several human disorders, so understanding these dynamics could have real implications for human health.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Image from work by Nitay Zuk-Bar and colleagues
• 1Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, Gray Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences and Sagol School of Neurosciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in bioRxiv, December 2025 (not peer reviewed)