The Latest Biology News And Medical NewsBiology News 2Health News 2Biology News 3Health News 3
HOME >> BIOLOGY >> NEWS
Gene triggers formation of sensory cells in the ear

June 11, 1999-A team of scientists from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) at Baylor College of Medicine has discovered the gene responsible for triggering embryonic cells in the inner ear to develop into sound- and motion-sensing hair cells.

Huda Zoghbi, HHMI investigator at Baylor, said that this finding raises the possibility of introducing the gene into the inner ear to replenish hair cells lost to age and environmental trauma, two prevalent causes of deafness and balance problems.

The Zoghbi lab found that a mouse gene called Math1 signals precursor cells in the inner ear to become hair cells. This decision occurs during embryonic development at a time when other precursor cells are developing into support cells that surround the hair cells and anchor them in place within the inner ear.

The microscopic hairs that sprout from such cells cover inner ear surfaces like wheat in a Kansas field. When sound or head motion creates ripples across the array of hairs, that motion is translated into nerve impulses that the brain interprets as sound or movement.

Zoghbi, whose main research explores disorders of balance, began this collaboration with Hugo Bellen, also an HHMI investigator at Baylor, in 1996 when he brought to her attention a line of uncoordinated fruit flies that lacked a gene called atonal. The scientists knew that genes for such crucial functions are usually "conserved" throughout the animal kingdom-when one species has such genes, other animals species usually do, too. So they embarked on a search for genes similar to atonal in the mouse, in the hopes of gaining insight into peripheral nervous system development in vertebrates.

Zoghbi's group soon isolated a mouse gene, which they named "Mouse atonal homolog1," or Math1, that was similar to the fly
'"/>

Contact: Jim Keeley
keeleyj@hhmi.org
301-215-8858
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
11-Jun-1999


Page: 1 2 3

Related biology news :

1. Study suggests cell-cycle triggers might be cancer drug targets
2. Sick Kids researchers look at viral triggers for multiple sclerosis in children
3. Retroviral protein triggers proliferation of immune cells
4. A new mechanism that triggers autoimmune disease
5. Researchers find enzyme that triggers hardening of the arteries
6. Gene triggers stem cell differentiation in the intestine
7. Fatty food triggers taste buds, new research finds
8. Aspirin targets key cell that triggers organ rejection and other immune responses, report University of Pittsburgh researchers in journal article
9. Genome project finds the triggers for E. coli illness
10. How a hormonal henchman triggers death
11. El Niño triggers tropical forest reproduction

Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: Gene triggers formation sensory cells the ear

(Date:11/23/2009)...evidence that the "synergistic" effect of early-li...ion and indoor endotoxin causes more harm to devel... , Environmental health scientists at the Unive...shown that children exposed to both high levels of...ring early life are six times more likely to exper...
(Date:11/23/2009)...ion Society says that western lowland gorillas liv...of the "mother lode" of more than 125,000 gorillas...eatened by growing humans activity in the region. ...orests adjacent to the southwest border of Lac Tl ...hat high densities of the great apes still exist i...
(Date:11/23/2009)...vailable for the H1N1 virus has been sent to vacci...cination marks the first time vaccine has been sen..., Iowa State University,s Hank Harris, professor...mer and has been shipping preventive doses to swin...al weeks., The latest vaccines were shipped to a...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Exposure to both traffic, indoor pollutants puts some kids at higher risk for asthma later 2A year after discovery, Congo's 'mother lode' of gorillas remains vulnerable 2Iowa State researcher produces, ships only H1N1 vaccine available for swine 2MitraClip 28R 29 Therapy Introduced in Austria 4958 1MitraClip 28R 29 Therapy Introduced in Austria 4958 2MitraClip 28R 29 Therapy Introduced in Austria 4958 3Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation Collaborative Symposium on Innovations in Health Care Experience 56624 1Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation Collaborative Symposium on Innovations in Health Care Experience 56624 2Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation Collaborative Symposium on Innovations in Health Care Experience 56624 3Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation Collaborative Symposium on Innovations in Health Care Experience 56624 4Peter G Peterson Foundation Releases The Lewin Group Study Showing Current House Health Care Reform Proposal Would Lead to Expanded Coverage and High 56622 1Peter G Peterson Foundation Releases The Lewin Group Study Showing Current House Health Care Reform Proposal Would Lead to Expanded Coverage and High 56622 2Peter G Peterson Foundation Releases The Lewin Group Study Showing Current House Health Care Reform Proposal Would Lead to Expanded Coverage and High 56622 3Peter G Peterson Foundation Releases The Lewin Group Study Showing Current House Health Care Reform Proposal Would Lead to Expanded Coverage and High 56622 4
(Date:11/24/2009)...,Iceland,November24/PRNewswire-FirstCall/--deCODE,...valofallofits,"firstday"motionsbytheU.S.Bankruptcy...").deCODElastweekfiledavoluntarypetitionfor,relief...he,BankruptcyCourt. , TheordersissuedbytheBan...businessduringtheChapter11proceedings.Inparticular...
(Date:11/24/2009)...Nov.24/PRNewswire-Asia/--ShanghaiBiolaxyannouncedt...sapprovedthe,investigationalnewdrugapplication(IND...ulinformulationtotreatdiabetes.ThisIND,approvalall...,, Diabetesisadisordercharacteristicofhighblood...esoftenresultinseveremicro-and,macro-vasculardisea...
(Date:11/24/2009)...ficacyendpointhasbeenmetforpatientswithadvanced-st...Y,Nov.24/PRNewswire-FirstCall/-AEternaZentarisInc....armaceuticalcompanyfocusedonendocrinetherapyandonc...2studywithitstargetedcytotoxicpeptideconjugate,AEZ...rrentendometrialcancer.Inapersonalizedhealthcareap...
(Date:11/24/2009)...Nov.24,2009/PRNewswire-FirstCall/--ArenaPharmaceut...mpanyisscheduledtopresentatthePiperJaffray21stAnnu...asternTime(8:30a.m.PacificTime)attheNewYorkPalaceH...iefExecutiveOfficer,isscheduledtoprovideanoverview...coveryprograms. ,, Aliveaudiowebcastofthepresen...
Breaking Biology Technology:deCODE genetics, Inc. Announces Approval of First Day Motions by Bankruptcy Court 2deCODE genetics, Inc. Announces Approval of First Day Motions by Bankruptcy Court 3Biolaxy Secures IND Approval for Oral Insulin 2AEterna Zentaris Announces Positive Results for Phase 2 Study with LHRH-Receptor Targeted Cytotoxic Conjugate AEZS-108 in Endometrial Cancer 2AEterna Zentaris Announces Positive Results for Phase 2 Study with LHRH-Receptor Targeted Cytotoxic Conjugate AEZS-108 in Endometrial Cancer 3AEterna Zentaris Announces Positive Results for Phase 2 Study with LHRH-Receptor Targeted Cytotoxic Conjugate AEZS-108 in Endometrial Cancer 4Arena Pharmaceuticals to Present at the Piper Jaffray 21st Annual Health Care Conference 2
Other News:
...l organisms such as fruit flies, nematodes and mic...ds? Scientists who study gene function in non-mod... developed by Nipam Patel, Ph.D., assistant profes...hes Investigator at the University of Chicago. .....
...ents taken from the ocean floor, scientists .have ...od of global .warming, approximately 55.5 million ...ent that resulted in an extensive die-off of deep ...issue of the journal Science... The warming...
...Events of Interest to the Media.III. Abstracts Sen...ion Officers on Press Releases.VI. Email list..***...isory 1 (AGU Press Release 99-36) of October 14. I... obtain it from the AGU web site: [http://www.agu....
. DURHAM, N.C. -- Efforts to rescue a highly endangered species of lemur were dealt a setback with the death early Friday morning of the lemur known as Juliet, in a Madagascar zoological park where sh
New tool for comparative gene studies 2Evidence for historic global warming published in Science 21999 Fall Meeting: Press conferences and special events 21999 Fall Meeting: Press conferences and special events 31999 Fall Meeting: Press conferences and special events 41999 Fall Meeting: Press conferences and special events 51999 Fall Meeting: Press conferences and special events 61999 Fall Meeting: Press conferences and special events 71999 Fall Meeting: Press conferences and special events 8Lemur 'Juliet' dies in Madagascar 2
...y pressing a few numbers on a phone keypad, health... in India will be able to report timely informatio......Health workers are participating in a pilot pro...f information technology can support health system...
...sing the largest known prostate cancer data set of...ion in the U.S., radiation oncologists have examin... it is not an indicator that men will die of prost...perience a bounce. That is the result of a multi-...
...ird counts can offer an initial assessment of bird...ll picture. In "Avian habitat evaluations: should...University of Colorado Boulder) reviewed studies f...number of birds in an area meant the birds would s...
...HILADELPHIA Researchers at the University of Penn...f "helper" T cells that can offer immunity to leis...h and disfigurement across the globe and has been ...ghanistan and Iraq.... In the October issue of Nat...
Interactive health information system to detect Japanese encephalitis in Asia 2Interactive health information system to detect Japanese encephalitis in Asia 3The PSA bounce Does it have clinical significance? 2Is more better: Counting birds may only tell part of the story 2T cell's memory may offer long-term immunity to leishmaniasis 2T cell's memory may offer long-term immunity to leishmaniasis 3