Whole transcriptome data analysis of zebrafish mutants affecting muscle development

Formation of the contractile myofibril of the skeletal muscle is a complex process which when perturbed leads to muscular dystrophy. Herein, we provide a mRNAseq dataset on three different zebrafish mutants affecting muscle organization during embryogenesis. These comprise the myosin folding chaperone unc45b (unc45b-/-), heat shock protein 90aa1.1 (hsp90aa1.1-/-) and the acetylcholine esterase (ache-/-) gene. The transcriptome analysis was performed in duplicate experiments at 72 h post-fertilization (hpf) for all three mutants, with two additional times of development (24 hpf and 48 hpf) for unc45b-/-. A total of 20 samples were analyzed by hierarchical clustering for differential gene expression. The data from this study support the observation made in Etard et al. (2015) [1] (http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13059-015-0825-8) that a failure to fold myosin activates a unique transcriptional program in the skeletal muscles that is different from that induced in stressed muscle cells.