Figure 9

Gpr156 was not required for lateral-line afferents to select Emx2+ or Emx2- hair cells. (A–H) Images of a control neuromast innervated by a single afferent fiber that contacts Emx2(-) cells at + dpf. (A) Phalloidin label reveals 16 hair bundles (8 A to P and 8 P to A hair bundles). Z-stack projections show all HCs labeled with Myo7a (B) a single afferent fiber expressing tdTomato (C) and Emx2(+and -) HCs (D). (E–H) Selected optical sections of (B–D) highlight the single afferent contacting individual Emx2(-) HCs. (I–P) Images of a gpr156 mutant neuromast innervated by a single afferent fiber that contacts Emx2(-) cells. (I) Phalloidin label revealed 14 hair bundles (13 A to P and 1 P to A hair bundles). Z-stack projections show all HCs labeled with Myo7a (J) a single afferent fiber expressing tdTomato (K) and Emx2(+ and -) HCs (L). M–O Selected optical sections of (J–L) highlight a single afferent in a gpr156 mutants contacting individual Emx2(-) HCs. (Q) In both controls and gpr156 mutants, each afferent fiber contacted the same number of HCs per neuromast. R The overall selectivity of afferent fibers for Emx2(+ or -) HCs were similarly high in gpr156 mutant and controls. (S–T) The selectivity of afferent fibers for Emx2(+) or Emx2(-) HCs was similarly high in both gpr156 mutants and controls. Arrows in A and I indicate the orientation of the hair bundles in each example. SEM is shown in Q-T. An unpaired t-test was used for comparisons. Scale bar = 5 µm.