Role of skeletal muscle in ear development.

Here, we show lists of 10 up- and 87 down-regulated genes obtained by a cDNA microarray analysis that compared developing Myf5-/-:Myod-/- (and Mrf4-/-) petrous part of the temporal bone, containing middle and inner ear, to the control, at embryonic day 18.5. Myf5-/-:Myod-/- fetuses entirely lack skeletal myoblasts and muscles. They are unable to move their head, which interferes with the perception of angular acceleration. Previously, we showed that the inner ear areas most affected in Myf5-/- :Myod-/- fetuses were the vestibular cristae ampullaris, sensitive to angular acceleration. Our finding that the type I hair cells were absent in the mutants cristae was further used here to identify a profile of genes specific to the lacking cell type.

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Rot I, Baguma-Nibasheka M, Costain WJ, Hong P, Tafra R, Mardesic-Brakus S, Mrduljas-Djujic N, Saraga-Babic M, Kablar B