Blindness and auditory impairment caused by loss of the sodium bicarbonate cotransporter NBC3.
Normal sensory transduction requires the efficient disposal of acid (H+) generated by neuronal and sensory receptor activity. Multiple highly sensitive transport mechanisms have evolved in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms to maintain acidity within strict limits. It is currently assumed that the multiplicity of these processes provides a biological robustness. Here we report that the visual and auditory systems have a specific requirement for H+ disposal mediated by the sodium bicarbonate cotransporter NBC3 (refs. 7,8). Mice lacking NBC3 develop blindness and auditory impairment because of degeneration of sensory receptors in the eye and inner ear as in Usher syndrome. Our results indicate that in certain sensory organs, in which the requirement to transduce specific environmental signals with speed, sensitivity and reliability is paramount, the choice of the H+ disposal mechanism used is limited.
Bok
Dean
D
Department of Neurobiology, Jules Stein Eye Institute, Los Angeles, California, 90095, USA.
Galbraith
Gary
G
Lopez
Ivan
I
Woodruff
Michael
M
Nusinowitz
Steven
S
BeltrandelRio
Hector
H
Huang
Wenhu
W
Zhao
Shulei
S
Geske
Robert
R
Montgomery
Charles
C
Van Sligtenhorst
Isaac
I
Friddle
Carl
C
Platt
Kenneth
K
Sparks
Mary Jean
MJ
Pushkin
Alexander
A
Abuladze
Natalia
N
Ishiyama
Akira
A
Dukkipati
Ramanath
R
Liu
Weixin
W
Kurtz
Ira
I
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D001308:Auditory Perceptual Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D001766:Blindness / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004596:Electroretinography; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D018390:Gene Targeting; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D020419:Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D012162:Retinal Degeneration / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D027982:Sodium-Bicarbonate Symporters / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000502:physiology
C498904:Slc4a7 protein, mouse; D027982:Sodium-Bicarbonate Symporters