Epigenetics is the expression and control of genes. The epigenetics involved in the inner ear is a critical part of the mystery of hearing. A team led by Prof. Karen B. Avraham, Vice Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, has now created the first map of “methylation” — one of the body’s main epigenetic signals — that reflects the functioning of the inner ear in its entirety.
Prof. Avraham collaborated on the study with TAU doctoral student Ofer Yizhar-Barnea and Prof. R. David Hawkins and other colleagues from the University of Washington and the Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Italy. Their research was published in a study in Scientific Reports on November 26.
“Our analysis of the DNA methylation dynamics revealed a large number of new genes that are critical for the development of the inner ear and the onset of hearing itself,” Prof. Avraham says. “Instead of looking at one gene at a time, we employed sophisticated genomic technologies to examine all the genes in one snapshot. This allowed us to have a genome-wide view of the regulatory dynamics of the inner ear as a whole.”
