Distribution of neurosensory progenitor pools during inner ear morphogenesis unveiled by cell lineage reconstruction

What is it about?

Our ears, eyes and other sensory organs collect information about the world around us. In the inner ear – which is responsible for balance and hearing – specialized cells known as hair cells detect sounds and position. This information is passed on to other cells called sensory neurons, which relay the information to the brain. Both of these cell types originate from a pool of “progenitors” located in an embryonic structure called the otic vesicle, where the progenitor cells follow different sets of instructions to make hair cells or sensory neurons. Although we have identified many of the genes that are important for setting these instructions, it is not known how the progenitor cells behave in the inner ear or how they follow these instructions. Dyballa et al. used high-resolution imaging to reconstruct the dynamic event histories of individual hair cells and sensory neurons in the inner ear of zebrafish embryos within their native context. The experiments combined techniques that allowed individual cells to be tracked over time and showed what types of cell they developed into. Dyballa et al. used these data to develop a map of the progenitor cells in the whole otic vesicle.

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Why is it important?

The findings help to fill the void in our understanding of the link between gene activity and tissue architecture in the inner ear. The next challenge is to use these findings as a basis to further explore models for how sensory neurons and hair cells develop upon regeneration or what are the problems encountered during degeneration.