VDM Boger, E: Mouse Myosin XVa

Myosins comprise a class of molecular motors that move along actin filaments and deliver cargo to specific cellular compartments. This book provides a detailed examination of the mouse myosin XVa biological function, characterization of full-length mouse inner ear myosins VIIa, VIIb, X and XVa cDNA transcripts and the cellular targeting of myosins VIIa, VIIb, X and XVa in mouse inner ear hair cells. Stereocilia are actin-filled projections on the apical surface of inner ear hair cells that detect mechanical stimuli of sound and head movement. The precise arrangement of stereocilia rows in a staircase-like pattern required for normal function is disrupted by the failure of myosin XVa to deliver whirlin to stereocilia tips resulting in deafness and vestibular defects. In transfected mouse hair cells deficient for myosin XVa function, the domains of myosin XVa required for stereocilia tip targeting were different than those required in the re-initiation of stereocilia elongation and staircase formation. The information in this book should be especially useful to investigators in the fields of neuroscience, biophysics, genetics and cell biology.