Establishment of a proneural field in the inner ear

Hair-cells, supporting cells and sensory neurons are the main specialized cell-types responsible for mechanotransduction in the inner ear. They derive from precursors expressing proneural genes and recent data has underlined the importance of SoxB1 genes as upstream activators of proneural genes during cranial placode development. Here we review the steps of establishing a proneural field and propose several models for how early otic regionalization into a proneural territory is achieved.