A nonneural miRNA cluster mediates hearing via repression of two neural targets
- 1Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, New York 10065, USA;
- 2Department of Biology, Colby College, Waterville, Maine 04901, USA;
- 3Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA
- Corresponding author: laie{at}mskcc.org
Abstract
We show here that mir-279/996 are absolutely essential for development and function of Johnston's organ (JO), the primary proprioceptive and auditory organ in Drosophila. Their deletion results in highly aberrant cell fate determination, including loss of scolopale cells and ectopic neurons, and mutants are electrophysiologically deaf. In vivo activity sensors and mosaic analyses indicate that these seed-related miRNAs function autonomously to suppress neural fate in nonneuronal cells. Finally, genetic interactions pinpoint two neural targets (elav and insensible) that underlie miRNA mutant JO phenotypes. This work uncovers how critical post-transcriptional regulation of specific miRNA targets governs cell specification and function of the auditory system.
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Footnotes
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Supplemental material is available for this article.
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Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.351052.123.
- Received August 7, 2023.
- Accepted November 29, 2023.
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