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Numb is not a critical regulator of Notch-mediated cell fate decisions in the developing chick inner ear.

Eddison, M; Weber, SJ; Ariza-McNaughton, L; Lewis, J; Daudet, N; (2015) Numb is not a critical regulator of Notch-mediated cell fate decisions in the developing chick inner ear. Front Cell Neurosci , 9 , Article 74. 10.3389/fncel.2015.00074. Green open access

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Abstract

The Notch signaling pathway controls differentiation of hair cells and supporting cells in the vertebrate inner ear. Here, we have investigated whether Numb, a known regulator of Notch activity in Drosophila, is involved in this process in the embryonic chick. The chicken homolog of Numb is expressed throughout the otocyst at early stages of development and is concentrated at the basal pole of the cells. It is asymmetrically allocated at some cell divisions, as in Drosophila, suggesting that it could act as a determinant inherited by one of the two daughter cells and favoring adoption of a hair-cell fate. To test the implication of Numb in hair cell fate decisions and the regulation of Notch signaling, we used different methods to overexpress Numb at different stages of inner ear development. We found that sustained or late Numb overexpression does not promote hair cell differentiation, and Numb does not prevent the reception of Notch signaling. Surprisingly, none of the Numb-overexpressing cells differentiated into hair cells, suggesting that high levels of Numb protein could interfere with intracellular processes essential for hair cell survival. However, when Numb was overexpressed early and more transiently during ear development, no effect on hair cell formation was seen. These results suggest that in the inner ear at least, Numb does not significantly repress Notch activity and that its asymmetric distribution in dividing precursor cells does not govern the choice between hair cell and supporting cell fates.

Type: Article
Title: Numb is not a critical regulator of Notch-mediated cell fate decisions in the developing chick inner ear.
Location: Switzerland
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2015.00074
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2015.00074
Language: English
Additional information: © 2015 Eddison, Weber, Ariza-McNaughton, Lewis and Daudet. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Keywords: Notch, Numb, asymmetric cell division, chick, hair cells, inner ear, lateral inhibition
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > The Ear Institute
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1466052
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