Determination of inner hair cell stereocilia widening mechanism
EMSL Project ID
51591
Abstract
Hair cells are the sensory cells of the inner ear, and use the mechanically sensitive hair bundle to detect sound and head movements. Bundles are composed of a hundred or so stereocilia, each of which is constructed of several hundred parallel actin filaments arranged into a rigid paracrystal. Our lab is particularly interested in the molecular mechanisms of stereocilia assembly. While we know that individual stereocilia are formed by sequential lengthening, widening, and lengthening steps, critical details of each of those three steps are lacking. We will use cryo-ET to determine the mechanism of actin-core widening—does it proceed from tip to taper, taper to tip, or in both directions? Imaging stereocilia ultrastructure with cryo electron tomography will allow us to see features of widening with unprecedented resolution and test specific models for how it occurs.
Project Details
Start Date
2020-08-15
End Date
2021-03-17
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members