Figure 1: Shared components of epithelial cell apical tip link complexes.

(a) Diagram of the ternary, Myo7-based complex that links cadherins to the actin cytoskeleton in stereocilia tip links or microvilli showing the known domain interactions among partners. (b) Schematic illustration of Myosin 7a, Myosin 7b, Harmonin-a and -b, ANKS4B and SANS (USH1G). Harmonin-a stands for both a1 and a2 isoforms. Harmonin-b represents only the b2 and b3 isoforms. Harmonin-c is not shown. Harmonin-b has an additional predicted coiled-coil region (CC2), an actin binding domain (ABD), and a divergent 47aa long C-terminal extension. Although harmonin isoforms share identical N-ter, PDZ1, 2 and 3, and the CC1, in order to highlight the different functional impact between harmonin-a and -b we represent them in different colours in all figures. The percentage of identity and similarity between the Myo7 tails and between the individual ANKS4B and SANS domains are shown. The CEN domain of ANKS4B/SANS is comprised of two highly conserved CEN regions (labelled 1 and 2) connected by a short linker (see also Fig. 3a). The per cent identity and similarity when only CEN1 and CEN2 regions are taken into account are shown in parentheses.