“…6), it is capable of promoting expression of neuronal genes in vitro, as well as expanding the myotome in Xenopus embryos (Bae et al, 2000;Koyabi-Nakagawa et al, 2000;Gao et al, 2001;Cossins et al, 2002;Gratton et al, 2003). It was further demonstrated that Hes6 antagonizes and releases the transcriptional repression of Hes1 in both the neuronal and muscle lineages to promote the expression of positively acting bHLH genes, or to promote the action of positively acting bHLH factors (Bae et al, 2000;Koyabi-Nakagawa et al, 2000;Gao et al, 2001;Cossins et al, 2002;Gratton et al, 2003). Of interest, Hes1 is expressed in the cochlear epithelium adjacent to the organ of Corti Zine et al, 2001), and the number of hair cells is increased in Hes1 knockout animals Zine et al, 2001).…”