Functional Expression of Prestin, the Outer Hair Cell Motor Protein, Using the Baculovirus/Insect Cell System

From zebrafish to mammal: functional evolution of prestin, the motor protein of cochlear outer hair cells.

Prestin is the motor protein of cochlear outer hair cells. It belongs to a distinct anion transporter family called solute carrier protein 26A, or SLC26A. Members of this family serve two fundamentally distinct functions. Although most members transport different anion substrates across a variety of epithelia, prestin (SLC26A5) is unique, functioning as a voltage-dependent motor protein. Recent...

Influence of the second messenger system on the motor protein of the outer hair cell

Prestin-Dependence of Outer Hair Cell Survival and Partial Rescue of Outer Hair Cell Loss in PrestinV499G/Y501H Knockin Mice

A knockin (KI) mouse expressing mutated prestinV499G/Y501H (499 prestin) was created to study cochlear amplification. Recordings from isolated outer hair cells (OHC) in this mutant showed vastly reduced electromotility and, as a consequence, reduced hearing sensitivity. Although 499 prestin OHCs were normal in stiffness and longer than OHCs lacking prestin, accelerated OHC death was unexpectedl...

A synthetic prestin reveals protein domains and molecular operation of outer hair cell piezoelectricity.

Prestin, a transporter-like protein of the SLC26A family, acts as a piezoelectric transducer that mediates the fast electromotility of outer hair cells required for cochlear amplification and auditory acuity in mammals. Non-mammalian prestin orthologues are anion transporters without piezoelectric activity. Here, we generated synthetic prestin (SynPres), a chimera of mammalian and non-mammalian...

Tuning of the outer hair cell motor by membrane cholesterol.

Cholesterol affects diverse biological processes, in many cases by modulating the function of integral membrane proteins. We observed that alterations of cochlear cholesterol modulate hearing in mice. Mammalian hearing is powered by outer hair cell (OHC) electromotility, a membrane-based motor mechanism that resides in the OHC lateral wall. We show that membrane cholesterol decreases during mat...