Prestin (SLC26A5)-mediated voltage-driven elongations and contractions of sensory outer hair cells within the organ of Corti are essential for mammalian cochlear amplification. However, whether this electromotile activity directly contributes on a cycle-by-cycle basis is currently controversial. By restoring motor kinetics in a mouse model expressing a slowed prestin missense variant, this study provides experimental evidence acknowledging the importance of fast motor action to mammalian cochlear amplification. Our results also demonstrate that the point mutation in prestin disrupting anion transport in other proteins of the SLC26 family does not alter cochlear function, suggesting that the potential weak anion transport of prestin is not essential in the mammalian cochlea.
Keywords: DFNB61; SLC26A5; cochlear amplification; electromotility; prestin.