Reaction-diffusion model of hair-bundle morphogenesis
Abstract
Our senses of hearing and balance rest upon the activity of hair cells, the ear's sensory receptors. Each hair cell detects mechanical stimuli with its hair bundle, an organelle comprising 10-300 cylindrical, actin-filled stereocilia. A bundle's structure is highly stereotyped: the stereocilia stand erect in a regular, hexagonal array and display a monotonic gradient in length along one axis. This precise organization is key to the operation of the hair bundle: mutations that disturb the morphology of the bundle generally result in deafness. Here we provide a detailed mathematical model of hair-bundle morphogenesis that reproduces the essential features of bundles. The model also permits prediction of the effects of mutations, some of which have already been observed.
- Publication:
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- October 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1417420111
- Bibcode:
- 2014PNAS..11115444J