RESEARCH ARTICLE Deficiency of Angulin-2/ILDR1, a Tricellular Tight Junction-Associated Membrane Protein, Causes Deafness with Cochlear Hair Cell Degeneration in Mice

Tricellular tight junctions seal the extracellular spaces of tricellular contacts, where the verti-ces of three epithelial cells meet, and are required for the establishment of a strong barrier function of the epithelial cellular sheet. Angulins and tricellulin are known as specific protein components of tricellular tight junctions, where angulins recruit tricellulin. Mutations in the genes encoding angulin-2/ILDR1 and tricellulin have been reported to cause human heredi-tary deafness DFNB42 and DFNB49, respectively. To investigate the pathogenesis of DFNB42, we analyzed mice with a targeted disruption of Ildr1, which encodes angulin-2/ ILDR1. Ildr1 null mice exhibited profound deafness. Hair cells in the cochlea of Ildr1 null mice develop normally, but begin to degenerate by two weeks after birth. Tricellulin localiza-tion at tricellular contacts of the organ of Corti in the cochlea was retained in Ildr1 null mice, but its distribution along the depth of tricellular contacts was affected. Interestingly, compen-satory tricellular contact localization of angulin-1/LSR was observed in the organ of Corti in Ildr1 null mice although it was hardly detected in the organ of Corti in wild-type mice. The onset of hair cell degeneration in Ildr1 null mice was earlier than that in the reported Tricmu