“…In normal mammalian hair cells, Myo6 localizes to the cuticular plate region (apical cell surface at the base of the stereocilia) and is thought to function as a membrane anchor around individual stereocilia (Hasson et al, 1997). In the Myo6 mouse mutant Snell's waltzer, stereocilia develop normally but fuse shortly after birth (Avraham et al, 1995;Self et al, 1999), and a similar phenotype is seen in the zebrafish myo6b mutant, satellite (Kappler et al, 2004, Seiler et al, 2004. It is hypothesized that Myo6 functions to anchor the plasma membrane in between individual stereocilia and that in the absence of normal Myo6, the membrane "zips up," forming giant stereocilia which then degenerate (Hasson et al, 1997;Self et al, 1999).…”