Variation analysis of transcriptome changes reveals cochlear genes and their associated functions in cochlear susceptibility to acoustic overstimulation.

This study revealed that the constitutive expressions of cochlear genes displayed diverse levels of gene-specific variation. These variation patterns were altered by acoustic trauma; approximately one-third of the examined genes displayed marked increases in their expression variation. Bioinformatics analyses revealed that the genes that exhibited increased variation were functionally related to cell death, biomolecule metabolism, and membrane function. In contrast, the stable genes were primarily related to basic cellular processes, including protein and macromolecular syntheses and transport. There was no functional overlap between the stable and variable genes. Importantly, we demonstrated that glutamate metabolism is related to the variation in the functional response of the cochlea to acoustic overstimulation. Taken together, the results indicate that our analyses of the individual variations in transcriptome changes of cochlear genes provide important information for the identification of genes that potentially contribute to the generation of individual variation in cochlear responses to acoustic overstimulation.
PMID: 26024952 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Hearing Research - May 26, 2015 Category: Audiology Authors: Yang S, Cai Q, Bard J, Jamison J, Wang J, Yang W, Hu BH Tags: Hear Res Source Type: research