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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Initiating Differentiation in Immortalized Multipotent Otic Progenitor Cells
Published on: January 2, 2016
Sox2 is required for development of taste bud sensory cells
Tadashi Okubo1, Larysa H Pevny, Brigid L M Hogan
1Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. t.okubo@nibb.ac.jp
Abstract:
Sox2 is expressed in basal epithelial cells of the tongue, with high levels in taste bud placodes, fungiform papillae, and mature taste cells, and low levels in filiform papillae. High Sox2 expression appears to lie downstream from canonical Wnt signaling. In hypomorphic Sox2(EGFP/LP) embryos, placodes form but no mature taste buds develop. In contrast, transgenic overexpression of Sox2 in the basal cells inhibits differentiation of filiform keratinocytes. Together, our loss-of-function and gain-of-function studies suggest that Sox2 functions in a dose-dependent manner to regulate the differentiation of endodermal progenitor cells of the tongue into taste bud sensory cells versus keratinocytes.
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