Xenopus TRPN1 (NOMPC) localizes to microtubule-based cilia in epithelial cells, including inner-ear hair cells.

ABSTRACT: In vertebrates, the senses of hearing and balance depend on hair cells, which transduce sounds with their hair bundles, containing actin-based stereocilia and microtubule-based kinocilia. A longstanding question in auditory science is the identity of the mechanically sensitive transduction channel of hair cells, thought to be localized at the tips of their stereocilia. Experiments in zebrafish implicated the transient receptor potential (TRP) channel NOMPC (drTRPN1) in this role; TRPN1 is absent from the genomes of higher vertebrates, however, and has not been localized in hair cells. Another candidate for the transduction channel, TRPA1, apparently is required for transduction in mammalian and nonmammalian vertebrates. This discrepancy raises the question of the relative contribution of T

SUBMITTER: Shin JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1194908 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature