The Hair Cell α9α10 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor: Odd Cousin in an Old Family.

ABSTRACT: Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are a subfamily of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels with members identified in most eumetazoan clades. In vertebrates, they are divided into three subgroups, according to their main tissue of expression: neuronal, muscle and hair cell nAChRs. Each receptor subtype is composed of different subunits, encoded by paralogous genes. The latest to be identified are the α9 and α10 subunits, expressed in the mechanosensory hair cells of the inner ear and the lateral line, where they mediate efferent modulation. α9α10 nAChRs are the most divergent amongst all nicotinic receptors, showing marked differences in their degree of sequence conservation, their expression pattern, their subunit co-assembly rules and, most importantly, their functional propertie

SUBMITTER: Lipovsek M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8634148 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature