Little is known about the proteins that mediate mechanoelectrical transduction, the process by which acoustic and accelerational stimuli are transformed by hair cells of the inner ear into electrical signals. In our search for molecules involved in mechanotransduction, we discovered a line of deaf and uncoordinated zebrafish with defective hair-cell function. The hair cells of mutant larvae fail to incorporate fluorophores that normally traverse the transduction channels and their ears lack microphonic potentials in response to vibratory stimuli. Hair cells in the posterior lateral lines of mutants contain numerous lysosomes and have short, disordered hair bundles. Their stereocilia lack two components of the transduction apparatus, tip links and insertional plaques. Positional cloning revealed an early frameshift mutation in tmie, the zebrafish ortholog of the mammalian gene transmembrane inner ear. The mutant line therefore affords us an opportunity to investigate the role of the corresponding protein in mechanoelectrical transduction.auditory system ͉ hair cell ͉ lateral line ͉ mechanoelectrical transduction ͉ vestibular system T he vertebrate inner ear is a complex organ that houses the delicate mechanoreceptors for hearing and balance known as hair cells. Situated at the apical surface of each hair cell is an array of height-ordered stereocilia called the hair bundle. This mechanically sensitive organelle responds in a directiondependent manner to displacements caused by sound and acceleration (1). Deflection of the hair bundle toward its tall edge increases the open probability of transduction channels residing at the stereociliary tips, allowing a depolarizing inward current of cations from the surrounding endolymph. Bundle movement in the opposite direction has the opposite effect, hyperpolarizing the hair cell. The conversion of acoustic and accelerational stimuli into electrical signals that are transmitted to the auditory nerve and subsequently to the brain is known as mechanoelectrical transduction.Although we have a basic understanding of the biophysical and electrophysiological events that initiate hearing, we know much less about the molecules involved. The difficulty in identifying these components stems from the paucity of sensory tissue in the inner ear, which frustrates biochemical purification and traditional molecular-biological assays. Genetic investigation has therefore largely replaced these approaches as the preferred strategy for identifying proteins important in hearing (2).The zebrafish has proven useful for this purpose (3). The internal ear of the zebrafish, which is anatomically and functionally similar to those of other vertebrates (4), undergoes rapid development and is readily accessible for observation and manipulation owing to its optical transparency. The zebrafish possesses an additional feature useful for hair-cell investigations, the lateral-line system. This apparatus, which comprises a series of hair-cell clusters termed neuromasts distributed over the body surface, is u...

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Truncated escape responses characteristic of the zebrafish shocked mutant result from a defective glial glycine transporter (GlyT1). In homozygous GlyT1 mutants, irrigating brain ventricles with glycine-free solution rescues normal swimming. Conversely, elevating brain glycine levels restores motility defects. These experiments are consistent with previous studies that demonstrate regulation of global glycine levels in the CNS as a primary function of GlyT1. As GlyT1 mutants mature, their ability to mount an escape response naturally recovers. To understand the basis of this recovery, we assay synaptic transmission in primary spinal motor neurons by measuring stimulus-evoked postsynaptic potentials. At the peak of the motility defect, inhibitory synaptic potentials are both significantly larger and more prolonged indicating a prominent role for GlyT1 in shaping fast synaptic transmission. However, as GlyT1 mutants naturally regain their ability to swim, the amplitude of inhibitory potentials decreases to below wild-type levels. In parallel with diminishing synaptic potentials, the glycine concentration required to evoke the mutant motility defect increases 61-fold during behavioral recovery. Behavioral recovery is also mirrored by a reduction in the levels of both glycine receptor protein and transcript. These results suggest that increased CNS glycine tolerance and reduced glycine receptor expression in GlyT1 mutants reflect compensatory mechanisms for functional recovery from excess nervous system inhibition.

On initial formation of neuromuscular junctions, slow synaptic signals interact through an electrically coupled network of muscle cells. After the developmental onset of muscle excitability and the transition to fast synaptic responses, electrical coupling diminishes. No studies have revealed the functional importance of the electrical coupling or its precisely timed loss during development. In the mutant zebrafish shocked (sho) electrical coupling between fast muscle cells persists beyond the time that it would normally disappear in wild-type fish. Recordings from sho indicate that muscle depolarization in response to motor neuron stimulation remains slow due to the low-pass filter characteristics of the coupled network of muscle cells. Our findings suggest that the resultant prolonged muscle depolarizations contribute to the premature termination of swimming in sho and the delayed acquisition of the normally rapid touch-triggered movements. Thus the benefits of gap junctions during early synapse development likely become a liability if not inactivated by the time that muscle would normally achieve fast autonomous function.

Zebrafish acquire the ability for fast swimming early in development. The motility mutant accordion (acc) undergoes exaggerated and prolonged contractions on both sides of the body, interfering with the acquisition of patterned swimming responses. Our whole cell recordings from muscle indicate that the defect is not manifested in neuromuscular transmission. However, imaging of skeletal muscle of larval acc reveals greatly prolonged calcium transients and associated contractions in response to depolarization. Positional cloning of acc identified a serca mutation as the cause of the acc phenotype. SERCA is a sarcoplasmic reticulum transmembrane protein in skeletal muscle that mediates calcium re-uptake from the myoplasm. The mutation in SERCA, a serine to phenylalanine substitution, is likely to result in compromised protein function that accounts for the observed phenotype. Indeed, direct evidence that mutant SERCA causes the motility dysfunction was provided by the finding that wild type fish injected with an antisense morpholino directed against serca, exhibited accordion-like contractions and impaired swimming. We conclude that the motility dysfunction in embryonic and larval accordion zebrafish stems directly from defective calcium transport in skeletal muscle rather than defective CNS drive.

INTRODUCTIONThis protocol describes an approach for monitoring the movement of tagged molecules in single neurons in intact embryonic and larval zebrafish. The intact preparation provides a meaningful context for the physiological event being studied. Other advantages offered by the young zebrafish include direct in vivo imaging, the ability to produce large numbers of labeled embryos easily using microinjection, and the existence of identified sensory circuits that can be exploited to activate a particular cell type. One limitation of this system is the fragility of 2- to 3-d-old embryos, which demands delicate physical manipulation of the fish during all stages preceding and during the experiment. In contrast to brain slices or isolated cells, nearly all original neural connections and sensory components are maintained in the intact preparation, so the occurrence of a downstream event may be precluded (or its manifestation enhanced) by some complex interplay of biological processes that are not fully understood.