SOX2 in Neurosensory Fate Determination and Differentiation in the Inner Ear

The astonishing range of SOX2 function in the different phases of preimplantation development and organogenesis extends from its essential role in the early zygote and the establishment of the trophectoderm and inner cell mass to the maintenance of pluripotent stem cells, stemness and progenitors in different developing tissues, control of proliferation, and differentiation and cell fate decisions in the development of many tissues. This breadth of function in specifying lineages, proliferation, and differentiation is underpinned by dose-dependent actions and versatile partnerships with different factors. In this chapter, we show that the inner ear is no exception and discuss the role of SOX2 in controlling neurosensory cell fate determination and differentiation into functional sensory hair cells and their associated sensory neurons, damage to which causes irreversible sensorineural deafness. Understanding the SOX2-regulatory networks that drive temporal and cell type-specific programs of transcription in the inner ear is essential for successfully developing strategies to treat sensorineural deafness.