NBIO Presents: Anthony Peng, PhD (University of Colorado Anschutz)

Moving beyond myosin motors in mammalian hair cell adaptation

Hair cells serve as auditory mechanoreceptors utilizing apically located hair bundles to transform sound-induced mechanical vibrations into electrical activity, a phenomenon referred to as mechano-transduction. With a sustained step-like displacement, the hair-cell receptor current peaks followed by a decrease in the receptor current, termed adaptation. Among these adaptation mechanisms, slow adaptation, characterized by time constants typically ranging from 10-100 milliseconds, was previously hypothesized to operate via a motor model of adaptation. This form of adaptation was hypothesized to rely on Ca2+ influx through MET channels modulating the attachment of myosin motors along the stereocilia core. Our recent investigations have challenged the motor model of slow adaptation, proposing instead a novel model reliant on the phosphoinositide PIP2.