11IY | pdb_000011iy

Protocadherin-15 extracellular domains 1-7

• PDB DOI: https://doi.org/10.2210/pdb11IY/pdb
• EM Map EMD-75730: EMDB EMDataResource

• Classification: CELL ADHESION
• Organism(s): Mus musculus
• Expression System: Homo sapiens
• Mutation(s): No 


• Deposited: 2026-02-26 Released: 2026-05-06 
• Deposition Author(s): Liang, X., Dillard, L., Pathak, R., Twomey, E.C., Muller, U.
• Funding Organization(s): National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH/NIGMS), National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIH/NIDCD), Other private

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Experimental Data Snapshot

• Method: ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
• Resolution: 3.57 Å
• Aggregation State: PARTICLE 
• Reconstruction Method: SINGLE PARTICLE 

Literature

Cryo-EM reveals a right-handed double-helix dimer architecture of PCDH15 critical for mechanotransduction.

Liang, X., Pathak, R., Qiu, X., Dillard, L., Twomey, E.C., Muller, U.

(2026) bioRxiv 

• PubMed: 41846998 
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.02.709101
• Primary Citation Related Structures: 
  11IY


• PubMed Abstract: 
  

  Tip links connect the stereocilia of mechanosensory hair cells in the inner ear and transmit force onto mechanotransduction (MET) channels. Tip links consist of protocadherin 15 (PCDH15) and cadherin 23 (CDH23), which assemble into an extracellular filament approximately 150 nm in length. Rare freeze-etched electron microscopy (EM) images have suggested that tip links could be right-handed double helices in vivo, but direct structural evidence has been lacking. Using cryo-EM we determined the structure of a large part of the extracellular PCDH15 domain. Two PCDH15 molecules form a parallel cis dimer stabilized by several dimerization interfaces, including two strand crossovers and two parallel contacts, yielding a right-handed double helix. Functional studies show that mutations in PCDH15 dimerization-domains impair MET. Our results establish the molecular foundation for how PCDH15 forms a right-handed double helix to enable mechanical sensing.

Biological Assembly 1  

Global Symmetry: Cyclic - C2  (Explore in 3D)
Global Stoichiometry: Homo 2-mer - A2 

Biological assembly 1 assigned by authors and generated by (software)

Biological Assembly Evidence: electron microscopy

Macromolecule Content 

• Total Structure Weight: 175.66 kDa 
• Atom Count: 12,370 
• Modeled Residue Count: 1,580 
• Deposited Residue Count: 1,580 
• Unique protein chains: 1

Macromolecules

Entity ID: 1
Molecule	Chains	Sequence Length	Organism	Details	Image
Protocadherin-15	A [auth C], B [auth D]	790	Mus musculus	Mutation(s): 0  Gene Names: Pcdh15
UniProt & NIH Common Fund Data Resources
Find proteins for Q99PJ1 (Mus musculus) Explore Q99PJ1  Go to UniProtKB:  Q99PJ1
IMPC:  MGI:1891428

Experimental Data & Validation

Experimental Data

• Method: ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
• Resolution: 3.57 Å
• Aggregation State: PARTICLE 
• Reconstruction Method: SINGLE PARTICLE 

EM Software:

Task	Software Package	Version
MODEL REFINEMENT	PHENIX	1.21.1_5286
RECONSTRUCTION	cryoSPARC

Structure Validation

Entry History 

& Funding Information

Deposition Data

• Released Date: 2026-05-06 
Deposition Author(s): Liang, X., Dillard, L., Pathak, R., Twomey, E.C., Muller, U.

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Funding Organization	Location	Grant Number
National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH/NIGMS)	United States	R35GM154904
National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH/NIGMS)	United States	F31GM157915
National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIH/NIDCD)	United States	RO1DC005965
Other private	France	FPA RD-2024-1
Other private	United States	--
Other private	United States	--

Revision History  

• Version 1.0: 2026-05-06
  Type: Initial release