title: Usherin, the defective protein in Usher syndrome type IIA, is likely to be a component of interstereocilia ankle links in the inner ear sensory cells.
abstract: Usher syndrome type IIa (USH2A) combines moderate to severe congenital hearing impairment and retinitis pigmentosa. It is the most common genetic form of USH. USH2A encodes usherin, which was previously defined as a basement membrane protein. A much larger USH2A transcript predicted to encode a transmembrane (TM) isoform was recently reported. Here, we address the role of TM usherin in the inner ear. Analysis of the usherin alternative transcripts in the murine inner ear revealed the existence of several predicted TM usherin isoforms with modular ectodomains of different lengths. In addition, we identified in the usherin cytoplasmic region a predicted 24 amino acid peptide, derived from a newly defined exon that is predominantly expressed in the inner ear but not in the retina. In mouse and rat inner ears, we show that TM usherin is present at the base of the differentiating stereocilia, which make up the mechanosensitive hair bundles receptive to sound. The usherin immunolabeling is transient in the hair bundles of cochlear hair cells (HCs), but persists in mature hair bundles of vestibular HCs. Several lines of evidence support the involvement of TM usherin in the composition of the ankle links, a subset of filamentous lateral links connecting stereocilia at the base. By co-immunoprecipitation and in vitro binding assays, we establish that the usherin cytodomain can bind to whirlin and harmonin, two PDZ domain-containing proteins that are defective in genetic forms of isolated deafness and USH type I, respectively. These PDZ proteins are suitable to provide the anchoring of interstereocilia lateral links to the F-actin core of stereocilia. Our results strongly suggest that congenital deafness in USH type I and type II shares similar pathogenic mechanisms, i.e. the disruption of hair bundle links-mediated adhesion forces that are essential for the proper organization of growing hair bundles.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Génétique des Déficits Sensoriels, INSERM U587, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Avital
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adato
authors.forename: Gaëlle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lefèvre
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Delprat
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Michel
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Michalski
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chardenoux
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weil
authors.forename: Aziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El-Amraoui
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Petit
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D002923:Cilia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D052245:Usher Syndromes / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C112735:USH2A protein, human; C492262:Ush1c protein, mouse; C491810:Ush2a protein, mouse; C477218:Whrn protein, mouse