title: Lineage tracing of Sox2-expressing progenitor cells in the mouse inner ear reveals a broad contribution to non-sensory tissues and insights into the origin of the organ of Corti.
abstract: The transcription factor Sox2 is both necessary and sufficient for the generation of sensory regions of the inner ear. It regulates expression of the Notch ligand Jag1 in prosensory progenitors, which signal to neighboring cells to up-regulate Sox2 and sustain prosensory identity. However, the expression pattern of Sox2 in the early inner ear is very broad, suggesting that Sox2-expressing progenitors form a wide variety of cell types in addition to generating the sensory regions of the ear. We used Sox2-CreER mice to follow the fates of Sox2-expressing cells at different stages in ear development. We find that Sox2-expressing cells in the early otocyst give rise to large numbers of non-sensory structures throughout the inner ear, and that Sox2 only becomes a truly prosensory marker at embryonic day (E)11.5. Our fate map reveals the organ of Corti derives from a central domain on the medial side of the otocyst and shows that a significant amount of the organ of Corti derives from a Sox2-negative population in this region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States.
authors.forename: Rende
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Program in Developmental Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States.
authors.forename: Rogers M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States.
authors.forename: Chih-Wei
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States.
authors.forename: Tiantian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States.
authors.forename: Alyssa L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Crowder
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States.
authors.forename: Victor G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Piazza
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States.
authors.forename: Tegy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Vadakkan
authors.affiliation: Program in Developmental Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States; Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States.
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Dickinson
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States; Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States; Program in Developmental Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States. Electronic address: akgroves@bcm.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Groves
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000943:Antigens, Differentiation / Q000032:analysis; D019070:Cell Lineage; D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D055879:Gene Knock-In Techniques; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D000072100:Jagged-1 Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D009925:Organ of Corti / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000502:physiology; D055748:SOXB1 Transcription Factors / Q000032:analysis*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000943:Antigens, Differentiation; C000606274:Jag1 protein, mouse; D000072100:Jagged-1 Protein; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D051880:Receptors, Notch; D055748:SOXB1 Transcription Factors
keywords: Cochlea; Inner ear; Organ of Corti; Otocyst; Sensory; Sox2