Fig. S2.

Scanning electron micrographs of the hair bundles of cochlear hair cells and VHCs in wild-type and Ush1g^−/− P2.5 mice. Low-, intermediate-, and high-magnification photographs show the hair bundles in cochlear hair cells and VHCs of a wild-type mouse and an Ush1g^−/− mouse on P2.5. Note the fragmentation of the IHC and OHC hair bundles and the flaccid shape of the VHC hair bundles in the mutant mouse. The intermediate- and high-magnification photographs show the characteristic prolate shape of stereocilia tips (except in stereocilia of the tallest row), which is the hallmark of functional tip links, in the wild-type mouse but not in the mutant mouse, which lacks the tip links. (Scale bars: 2 μm.)