PNAS: common ancestor of auditory and tactile cells

According to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by Neil Segil of the Stem Cell Laboratory of the University of Southern California, sensory cells in the inner ear and tactile receptors on the skin actually have a lot in common

"The development of two special sensory cells is surprisingly similar: the so-called "hair cells" receive sound to vibrate the inner ear, light touch and the skin on the surface of Merkel cells," said Segil, a professor of stem cell biology and Regenerative Medicine, University of Southern California and Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

In this research, doctoral student Haoze (Vincent) Yu, postdoctoral fellow Tao and their colleagues discovered a common mechanism involving gene regulation or epigenetics that allows stem cells and progenitor cells to differentiate into more specialized hair cells And Merkel cells

In order to start the differentiation process, the correct part of the stem cell DNA needs to be taken out of storage

When DNA is tightly wound into this storage structure, chromatin is closed and cannot be touched by the protein ATOH1

To achieve this goal, ATOH1 stimulates the production of a second protein, called POU4F3, which is a protein aptly named "Pioneer Factor", which can enter the closed and inaccessible chromatin by binding to it.

It is worth noting that, in hair cells and Merkel cells, the specific chromatin regions that POU4F3 makes ATOH1 close to have a significant overlap

Segil said: "These two cell types are involved in the perception of mechanical stimuli, but come from different embryonic parts, they both rely on the same ATOH1/POU4F3 mechanism to distinguish, which is noteworthy

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