Development of rod photoreceptors in the mammalian retina is critically dependent on the
basic motif-leucine zipper transcription factor NRL (neural retina leucine zipper). In the
absence of NRL, photoreceptor precursors in mouse retina produce only cones that
primarily express S-opsin. Conversely, ectopic expression of NRL in post-mitotic precursors
leads to a rod-only retina. To explore the role of signaling molecules in modulating NRL
function, we identified putative sites of post-translational modification in the NRL protein by …