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Fig. 3. (A) Early (E15-P0) and late (P4-P10) stages of auditory hair bundle maturation in mice. The stereocilia that form the hair bundle are held together by various side-links. The number and structure of these links vary during the course of development (top) and in mature (bottom) cells. At late developmental stages, the most central actin filaments of stereocilia insert their rootlets into another actin-rich structure, the cuticular plate (CP). Note that the kinocilium is no longer present in mature auditory hair cells, although its basal body persists. The tip link (TL) is believed to gate the mechanoelectrical transduction (MET) channel. (B) Immunogold labelling showing cadherin 23 is associated with links connecting growing stereocilia (adapted with permission from Michel et al., 2005). Protocadherin 15 also probably makes interstereocilia lateral links (LL) in the differentiating hair bundle. During hair bundle maturation, the binding of harmonin b to cadherin 23, protocadherin 15, and F-actin should anchor the interstereocilia links to the stereocilia actin core. Myosin VIIa is required for transfer of harmonin b up to the stereocilia (green arrow). Myosin VIIa also interacts with vezatin, a ubiquitous component of adherens junctions, which is associated with the ankle links (AL).
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