title: Who does the hair cell's 'do? Rho GTPases and hair-bundle morphogenesis.
abstract: The mechanosensitive hair bundles of vertebrate hair cells exhibit a remarkable variety of shapes. For a given location in a sensory epithelium, however, the shape and polarity of a hair bundle are specified precisely. Recent findings, in particular with analogous experimental systems of actin polymerization, suggest a model of hair-bundle morphogenesis whereby different Rho guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) regulate the initiation phase and the elongation phase of local actin-filament assembly at the hair cell's apical membrane.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, Box 314, New York, New York 10021-6399, USA. kollmar@rockvax.rockefeller.edu
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kollmar
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D020558:GTP Phosphohydrolases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D020558:GTP Phosphohydrolases; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins