Unbalanced bidirectional radial stiffness gradients within the organ of Corti promoted by TRIOBP.

Hearing depends on intricate morphologies and mechanical properties of diverse inner ear cell types. The individual contributions of various inner ear cell types into mechanical properties of the organ of Corti and the mechanisms of their integration are yet largely unknown. Using sub-100-nm spatial resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM), we mapped the Young's modulus (stiffness) of the apical surface of the different cells of the freshly dissected P5-P6 cochlear epithelium from wild-type and mice lacking either Trio and F-actin binding protein (TRIOBP) isoforms 4 and 5 or isoform 5 only. Variants of TRIOBP are associated with deafness in human and in Triobp mutant mouse models. Remarkably, nanoscale AFM mapping revealed unrecognized bidirectional radial stiffness gradients of different magnitudes and opposite orientations between rows of wild-type supporting cells and sensory hair cells. Moreover, the observed bidirectional radial stiffness gradients are unbalanced, with sensory cells being stiffer overall compared to neighboring supporting cells. Deafness-associated TRIOBP deficiencies significantly disrupted the magnitude and orientation of these bidirectional radial stiffness gradients. In addition, serial sectioning with focused ion beam and backscatter scanning electron microscopy shows that a TRIOBP deficiency results in ultrastructural changes of supporting cell apical phalangeal microfilaments and bundled cortical F-actin of hair cell cuticular plates, correlating with messenger RNA and protein expression levels and AFM stiffness measurements that exposed a softening of the apical surface of the sensory epithelium in mutant mice. Altogether, this additional complexity in the mechanical properties of the sensory epithelium is hypothesized to be an essential contributor to frequency selectivity and sensitivity of mammalian hearing.

Calcium and Integrin-binding protein 2 (CIB2) controls force sensitivity of the mechanotransducer channels in cochlear outer hair cells.

Calcium and Integrin-Binding Protein 2 (CIB2) is an essential subunit of the mechano-electrical transduction (MET) complex in mammalian auditory hair cells. CIB2 binds to pore-forming subunits of the MET channel, TMC1/2 and is required for their transport and/or retention at the tips of mechanosensory stereocilia. Since genetic ablation of CIB2 results in complete loss of MET currents, the exact role of CIB2 in the MET complex remains elusive. Here, we generated a new mouse strain with deafness-causing p.R186W mutation in Cib2 and recorded small but still measurable MET currents in the cochlear outer hair cells. We found that R186W variant causes increase of the resting open probability of MET channels, steeper MET current dependence on hair bundle deflection (I-X curve), loss of fast adaptation, and increased leftward shifts of I-X curves upon hair cell depolarization. Combined with AlphaFold2 prediction that R186W disrupts one of the multiple interacting sites between CIB2 and TMC1/2, our data suggest that CIB2 mechanically constraints TMC1/2 conformations to ensure proper force sensitivity and dynamic range of the MET channels. Using a custom piezo-driven stiff probe deflecting the hair bundles in less than 10 µs, we also found that R186W variant slows down the activation of MET channels. This phenomenon, however, is unlikely to be due to direct effect on MET channels, since we also observed R186W-evoked disruption of the electron-dense material at the tips of mechanotransducing stereocilia and the loss of membrane-shaping BAIAP2L2 protein from the same location. We concluded that R186W variant of CIB2 disrupts force sensitivity of the MET channels and force transmission to these channels.

Myosin-XVa Controls Both Staircase Architecture and Diameter Gradation of Stereocilia Rows in the Auditory Hair Cell Bundles.

Mammalian hair cells develop their mechanosensory bundles through consecutive phases of stereocilia elongation, thickening, and retraction of supernumerary stereocilia. Many molecules involved in stereocilia elongation have been identified, including myosin-XVa. Significantly less is known about molecular mechanisms of stereocilia thickening and retraction. Here, we used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to quantify postnatal changes in number and diameters of the auditory hair cell stereocilia in shaker-2 mice (Myo15sh2) that lack both "long" and "short" isoforms of myosin-XVa, and in mice lacking only the "long" myosin-XVa isoform (Myo15∆N). Previously, we observed large mechanotransduction current in young postnatal inner (IHC) and outer (OHC) hair cells of both these strains. Stereocilia counts showed nearly identical developmental retraction of supernumerary stereocilia in control heterozygous, Myo15sh2/sh2, and Myo15∆N/∆N mice, suggesting that this retraction is largely unaffected by myosin-XVa deficiency. However, myosin-XVa deficiency does affect stereocilia diameters. In control, the first (tallest) and second row stereocilia grow in diameter simultaneously. However, the third row stereocilia in IHCs grow only until postnatal day 1-2 and then become thinner. In OHCs, they also grow slower than taller stereocilia, forming a stereocilia diameter gradation within a hair bundle. The sh2 mutation disrupts this gradation and makes all stereocilia nearly identical in thickness in both IHCs and OHCs, with only subtle residual diameter differences. All Myo15sh2/sh2 stereocilia grow postnatally including the third row, which is not a part of normal development. Serial sections with focused ion beam (FIB)-SEM confirmed that diameter changes of Myo15sh2/sh2 IHC and OHC stereocilia resulted from corresponding changes of their actin cores. In contrast to Myo15sh2/sh2, Myo15∆N/∆N hair cells develop prominent stereocilia diameter gradation. Thus, besides building the staircase, the short isoform of myosin-XVa is essential for controlling the diameter of the third row stereocilia and formation of the stereocilia diameter gradation in a hair bundle.

RFX transcription factors are essential for hearing in mice.

Sensorineural hearing loss is a common and currently irreversible disorder, because mammalian hair cells (HCs) do not regenerate and current stem cell and gene delivery protocols result only in immature HC-like cells. Importantly, although the transcriptional regulators of embryonic HC development have been described, little is known about the postnatal regulators of maturating HCs. Here we apply a cell type-specific functional genomic analysis to the transcriptomes of auditory and vestibular sensory epithelia from early postnatal mice. We identify RFX transcription factors as essential and evolutionarily conserved regulators of the HC-specific transcriptomes, and detect Rfx1,2,3,5 and 7 in the developing HCs. To understand the role of RFX in hearing, we generate Rfx1/3 conditional knockout mice. We show that these mice are deaf secondary to rapid loss of initially well-formed outer HCs. These data identify an essential role for RFX in hearing and survival of the terminally differentiating outer HCs.