Prestin (Slc26a5)

Motor protein which converts auditory stimuli to length changes in outer hair cells and mediates sound amplification in the mammalian hearing organ. Prestin is a bidirectional voltage- to-force converter, it can operate at microsecond rates.

It utilizes cytoplasmic anions as extrinsic voltage detectors, probably chloride and bicarbonate. They move towards the extracellular surface after hyperpolarization, and towards the cytoplasmic side in response to depolarization.