First published online January 14, 2005
Development 132, 306e (2005)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
protocadherin15 links sight and sound
Specialised apical structures in the sensory receptors in the eye and the
ear detect light and mechanical stimuli, respectively. Sensory receptors seem
to have evolved from a common ancestor, and mutations in some of the genes
that are required for both sight and hearing cause Usher syndrome, a human
syndrome of visual and acoustic-vestibular defects. Seiler and co-workers now
report that protocadherin15 (PCDH15), a gene mutated in
Usher syndrome, is duplicated in zebrafish (see
p. 615). They show that
the zebrafish auditory/vestibular mutant orbiter has a mutation in
pcdh15a, an orthologue of PCDH15, and that morpholino-based
depletion of a second orthologue, pcdh15b, causes a visual defect.
The researchers conclude that during evolution, duplicated pcdh15
genes acquired functions that maintain the structural integrity of the
specialised apical surfaces of different sensory receptors. Zebrafish, they
add, provide a new model for Usher syndrome.
Related articles in Development:
- Duplicated genes with split functions: independent roles of protocadherin15 orthologues in zebrafish hearing and vision
- Christoph Seiler, Karin C. Finger-Baier, Oliver Rinner, Yuri V. Makhankov, Heinz Schwarz, Stephan C. F. Neuhauss, and Teresa Nicolson
Development 2005 132: 615-623.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
