RNA-seq transcriptomic analysis of adult zebrafish inner ear hair cells

Although hair cells are the sensory receptors of the auditory and vestibular systems in the ears of all vertebrates, hair cell properties are different between non-mammalian vertebrates and mammals. To understand the basic biological properties of hair cells from non-mammalian vertebrates, we examined the transcriptome of adult zebrafish auditory and vestibular hair cells. GFP-labeled hair cells were isolated from inner-ear sensory epithelia of a pou4f3 promoter-driven GAP-GFP line of transgenic zebrafish. One thousand hair cells and 1,000 non-sensory surrounding cells (nsSCs) were separately collected for each biological replicate, using the suction pipette technique. RNA sequencing of three biological replicates for the two cell types was performed and analyzed. Comparisons between hair cells and nsSCs allow identification of enriched genes in hair cells, which may underlie hair cell specialization. Our dataset provides an extensive resource for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying morphology, function, and pathology of adult zebrafish hair cells. It also establishes a framework for future characterization of genes expressed in hair cells and the study of hair cell evolution.