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

About this event

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.

From UW NBIO