Myosin-based nucleation of actin filaments contributes to stereocilia development critical for hearing.

Assembly of actin-based stereocilia is critical for cochlear hair cells to detect sound. To tune their mechanosensivity, stereocilia form bundles composed of graded rows of ascending height, necessitating the precise control of actin polymerization. Myosin 15 (MYO15A) drives hair bundle development by delivering critical proteins to growing stereocilia that regulate actin polymerization via an unknown mechanism.

Harnessing molecular motors for nanoscale pulldown in live cells.

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) regulate assembly of macromolecular complexes, yet remain challenging to study within the native cytoplasm where they normally exert their biological effect. Here we miniaturize the concept of affinity pulldown, a gold-standard in vitro PPI interrogation technique, to perform nanoscale pulldowns (NanoSPDs) within living cells. NanoSPD hijacks the normal process of intracellular trafficking by myosin motors to forcibly pull fluorescently tagged protein complexes along filopodial actin filaments.