The CD2 isoform of protocadherin-15 is an essential component of the tip-link complex in mature auditory hair cells.

ABSTRACT: Protocadherin-15 (Pcdh15) is a component of the tip-links, the extracellular filaments that gate hair cell mechano-electrical transduction channels in the inner ear. There are three Pcdh15 splice isoforms (CD1, CD2 and CD3), which only differ by their cytoplasmic domains; they are thought to function redundantly in mechano-electrical transduction during hair-bundle development, but whether any of these isoforms composes the tip-link in mature hair cells remains unknown. By immunolabelling and both morphological and electrophysiological analyses of post-natal hair cell-specific conditional knockout mice (Pcdh15ex38-fl/ex38-fl Myo15-cre+/-) that lose only this isoform after normal hair-bundle development, we show that Pcdh15-CD2 is an essential component of tip-links in mature auditory hair

SUBMITTER: Pepermans E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4119359 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature