Communications of the ACM
Genomics Study Identifies Unique Set of Proteins That Restores Hearing in Zebrafish
A confocal image of adult zebrafish hair cells (green) in the auditory organ of the inner ear.
Credit: Erin Jimenez
Researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute used genomic techniques and computational-based machine learning to identify a network of proteins that enable zebrafish to regenerate hair cells to restore their hearing.
The findings potentially could be used to develop treatments for human hearing loss.
These proteins, or transcription factors, have the ability to switch genes on and off.
The researchers discovered two families of transcription factors, called Sox and Six, responsible for hair cell regeneration in zebrafish.
The regeneration response in surrounding, or support, cells is initiated by the Sox transcription factors, and both the Sox and Six transcription factors work together to transform the support cells into hair cells.
From National Institutes of Health
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2022 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA
No entries found