Genetic Analysis of Retinoic Acid Signaling in Pronephros Development

Due to congenital or acquired conditions, approximately 20 million people in the United States exhibit chronic kidney disease (CKD) (CDC, 2014). There are limited treatments available to those with renal disease or failure and most of them are only short-term solutions. Kidneys serve an essential purpose by filtering out metabolic waste and performing waste removal. These functions protect the body form metabolite and waste buildup, which has been linked to developmental defects, cancer, and renal failure (DeBerardinis et al., 2012; Blaine et al., 2015). A factor that can contribute to kidney malformation is an aberration in retinoic acid (RA) signaling. RA plays a significant role in ontogeny of the embryonic kidney. While some developmental effects of RA are known, others such as how mutations in RA regulation impact kidney segmentation are not. Filling in this knowledge gap, using zebrafish (Danio rerio), will provide vital information on nephrogenesis pathways.