Abstract
The inner ear's sensory cells, the hair cells, mediate mechanotransduction, which enables us to experience sound and movements of the head. Protruding from the apical portion of a hair cell, a hair bundle is formed from actin-rich stereocilia, which are arrayed with increasing length in a staircase formation; mechanical stimuli that deflect the bundle toward the tallest stereocilia open cation-selective transduction channels and initiate mechanotransduction. Integral for the sensing of mechanical tension, a filamentous structure called the tip link spans from the tip of one stereocilium to the side of the next taller one. The molecular identity of the tip link has been hotly debated by the hair-cell field, and the article by Schwander et al. (1) in this issue of PNAS provides a significant step toward a final settlement of this issue. To appreciate the full ramifications of this study and understand the different layers of possible conclusions, it makes sense to step back and recall what we know about tip links.
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