The regulation of Atonal 1 and the origin of hair cells in the inner ear

The vertebrate inner ear is the organ responsible for the senses of balance, acceleration and audition. Three cell types form the functional unit of the ear: hair cells, neurons and supporting cells. Atoh1 and Neurog1, two bHLH genes, drive differentiation of hair cells and neurons, respectively. Ha...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: Gálvez García, Héctor
Formato: tesis doctoral
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Recursos:CBUC, CESCA
Repositorio:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/565808
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10803/565808
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Hair cells
Inner ear
bHLH factors
Neural progenitors
Sensory
Células ciliadas
Oído interno
Factores bHLH
Progenitores neuronales
Sensorial
577
Descrição
Resumo:The vertebrate inner ear is the organ responsible for the senses of balance, acceleration and audition. Three cell types form the functional unit of the ear: hair cells, neurons and supporting cells. Atoh1 and Neurog1, two bHLH genes, drive differentiation of hair cells and neurons, respectively. Hair cell and neuronal competence is established early in development. However, hair cell differentiation is delayed with respect to neurons. In this work, I provide evidence for a molecular mechanism that underlies the repression of Atoh1 by Neurog1. Neurog1 is able to reduce the levels of Atoh1 protein and as a consequence, Atoh1 cannot activate its own expression. This provides a novel mechanism for bHLH interactions by which neurons are forced to develop before hair cells during embryonic development.