Directional selectivity of afferent neurons in zebrafish neuromasts is regulated by Emx2 in presynaptic hair cells

The orientation of hair bundles on top of sensory hair cells (HCs) in neuromasts of the lateral line system allows fish to detect direction of water flow. Each neuromast shows hair bundles arranged in two opposing directions and each afferent neuron innervates only HCs of the same orientation. Previ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:eLife 2018-04, Vol.7
Main Authors: Ji, Young Rae, Warrier, Sunita, Jiang, Tao, Wu, Doris K, Kindt, Katie S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
afferent neuron
axonal guidance
Danio rerio
Developmental Biology
Fish
Hair
hair bundle polarity
Hair cells
Innervation
Lateral line
Neuromasts
neuronal selection
Neurons
Neuroscience
planar cell polarity
Research Advance
Sensory neurons
Vangl2
Water flow
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The orientation of hair bundles on top of sensory hair cells (HCs) in neuromasts of the lateral line system allows fish to detect direction of water flow. Each neuromast shows hair bundles arranged in two opposing directions and each afferent neuron innervates only HCs of the same orientation. Previously, we showed that this opposition is established by expression of Emx2 in half of the HCs, where it mediates hair bundle reversal (Jiang et al., 2017 ). Here, we show that Emx2 also regulates neuronal selection: afferent neurons innervate either Emx2-positive or negative HCs. In emx2 knockout and gain-of-function neuromasts, all HCs are unidirectional and the innervation patterns and physiological responses of the afferent neurons are dependent on the presence or absence of Emx2. Our results indicate that Emx2 mediates the directional selectivity of neuromasts by two distinct processes: regulating hair bundle orientation in HCs and selecting afferent neuronal targets.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.35796