Gene linked to hearing in humans also linked to touch in sea anemones

Several researchers from the U of A are part of an international team of investigators who have published a paper about the discovery of a gene linked to touch in the sea anemones as well as hearing in humans. The pou-iv gene is important for the development of the human inner ear.

The closest living relatives of animals with bilateral symmetry are the Cnidarians, which include jellyfish, corals and sea anemones. Cnidarians are useful for studying human evolutionary history because features shared by bilateral animals and cnidarians were present in our last common ancestor. Both bilaterians and cnidarians use the same set of genes in their nervous system.

Hair cells are Auditory cells in the inner ear that pick up sound. Sea anemones have hair cells on their tentacles that they use to sense their prey.

In mammals, pou-iv is required for proper hair cell development. Sea anemones have a pou-iv gene, but no one had ever examined its role in anemone hair cell development.

The pou-iv gene was knocked out in the sea anemone and the researchers found that it resulted in abnormal development of hair cells. The polycystin 1 gene is needed for normal fluid flow in the sea anemones. This suggests that pou-iv has a role in the development of touch sensation that goes back at least as far as our last common ancestor with sea anemones.

The Nakanishi Lab is overseen by an assistant professor of biological sciences, Nagayasu Nakanishi, who received a CAREER award for his work on the evolution of the nervous system. He is the author of the study.

Nakanishi said that the study opened a new field of research into how the sea anemone develops and functions, which has plenty of potential for novel and important discoveries to be reported in the future.

The paper was published in a magazine.

More information: Ethan Ozment et al, Cnidarian hair cell development illuminates an ancient role for the class IV POU transcription factor in defining mechanoreceptor identity, eLife (2021). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.74336 Journal information: eLife Citation: Gene linked to hearing in humans also linked to touch in sea anemones (2022, April 1) retrieved 1 April 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-04-gene-linked-humans-sea-anemones.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.