title: Direct mechanical stimulation of tip links in hair cells through DNA tethers.
abstract: Mechanoelectrical transduction by hair cells commences with hair-bundle deflection, which is postulated to tense filamentous tip links connected to transduction channels. Because direct mechanical stimulation of tip links has not been experimentally possible, this hypothesis has not been tested. We have engineered DNA tethers that link superparamagnetic beads to tip links and exert mechanical forces on the links when exposed to a magnetic-field gradient. By pulling directly on tip links of the bullfrog's sacculus we have evoked transduction currents from hair cells, confirming the hypothesis that tension in the tip links opens transduction channels. This demonstration of direct mechanical access to tip links additionally lays a foundation for experiments probing the mechanics of individual channels.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, United States.
authors.forename: Aakash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, United States.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lagier
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, United States.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vologodskaia
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, United States.
authors.forename: Brian A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Fabella
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, United States.
authors.forename: A J
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0295-1323
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hudspeth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA; D060526:Magnetic Fields; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D008863:Microspheres; D011892:Rana catesbeiana; D059547:Stereocilia / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004247:DNA
keywords: auditory system; biophysics; bullfrog; mechanoelectrical transduction; neuroscience; structural biology; vestibular system