Cover: Sensory perception of sound requires highly organized stereocilia at the cochlear hair cell surface. The cover illustration shows a pseudo-colored scanning electron micrograph of normal stereocilia (upper left). Mice with defects in the myosin XV gene have organized stereocilia that are too short for normal function, while mutations in the myosin VI gene cause multiple morphological abnormalities of the stereocilia, including uneven length, fusions and blebs (foreground, lower right). Mice doubly mutant for myosin XV and VI mutations have stereocilia with features that are a composite of the characteristics of the single gene mutations, revealing that these unconventional myosin genes have distinct functions in development and/or maintenance of stereocilia. Cover illustration designed by Shayne Davidson of BMC Media. See Article by Karolyi et al., in this issue, pp. 2797-2805.
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