ESPN and deafness: The espin actin-bundling proteins, which are the target of mutations that cause deafness and vestibular dysfunction (Zheng et al., 2000; Naz et al., 2004), are enriched in hair cell stereocilia (Zheng et al., 2000; Sekerková et al., 2006) and the microvilli of other sensory cells (Sekerková et al., 2004).