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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Neurosci. 2015 Jan 12;38(3):139–144. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2014.12.004

Fig. 1. Schematic of Notch signaling in the developing cochlea.

Fig. 1

During differentiation of sensory epithelium in the mouse cochlea, a thickened area that expresses Sox2 is specified by embryonic day 12 (E12) (a). The cells destined to become the cochlear sensory epithelium exit the cell cycle in a region termed the zone of non-proliferating cells marked by the expression of cell cycle inhibitor. p27Kip1 (b). A master gene for hair cell differentiation, Atoh1, is observed within this area (c). Emerging Atoh1-positive cells (blue) start to express Notch ligands including jagged 2 and interact with neighboring cells through Notch signal-mediated “lateral inhibition” (d, e). In the surrounding cells, hair cell genes are shut down through the competition of Hes and Atoh1 (e). Therefore, the cells adjacent to hair cells differentiate into supporting cells, resulting in a checkerboard arrangement of hair cells and supporting cells (f). (ZNPC: Zone of non-proliferating cells; J2: jagged 2; N1: Notch 1; PS: Presenilin; NICD: Notch intracellular domain)