Adjustable hair bundle mechanoreceptors located on anemone tentacles detect movements of nearby, swimming prey. The hair bundles are formed by numerous actin-based stereocilia that converge onto a single, central kinocilium. Interestingly, morphological and functional changes to the hair bundles are induced by activating chemoreceptors that bind prey-derived N-acetylated sugars and proline, respectively. Morphological changes to the hair bundles involve alterations to the actin cytoskeleton of stereocilia. A pharmacological activation of Rho induces hair bundles to elongate to lengths comparable to those normally induced by exposure to N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) and prevents shortening of hair bundles normally induced by proline. Rho inhibition prevents NANA-induced elongation, but does not prevent proline-induced shortening of hair bundles. Western blots feature a band similar in mass to that predicted for a Rho homolog in the genome of Nematostella. Immunocytochemistry localizes Rho in stereocilia of the hair bundle. Anemone hair bundles arise from multicellular complexes. Data from experiments using heptanol, a gap junction uncoupler, indicate that cell-cell communication is required in order for activated chemoreceptors to induce morphological changes to the hair bundles.
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