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DISTRIBUTION OF UNCONVENTIONAL MYOSINS IN THE ZEBRAFISH EAR

Sensory hair cells are the primary auditory receptor cells in the vertebrate inner ear. Each hair cell possesses an apical ciliary bundle composed of a microtubule-based cilium, the kinocilium, and a group of actin-based stereocilia. It is possible that all vertebrate hair cells evolved from a common sensory ancestral cells type. The presence of multiple hair cell types within single sensory epithelium in reptiles, birds, and mammals is explained by the argument that these hair cell types are derived (Wersii.ll et al. 1965). The sensory epithelia of the inner ear of fishes also contains several types of hair cells and these may be homologous to the amniote type I and type II vestibular hair cells (Chang et al. 1992). This suggests that diversity of hair cell types may be a primitive character shared by all vertebrates. Current work examines similarities and differences among hair cells by studying the distribution of unconventional myosins, a family of nonfilamentous motor proteins within the vertebrate inner ear epithelia. Due to the hair cell-specific nature and critical function of these proteins (e.g., Hasson et al. 1997, Wang et al. 1998), it is hypothesised that myosin distribution among hair cells within otolithic epithelia has been conserved throughout vertebrate evolution. This study uses immunocytochemistry to localise myosins VI and VIla within the inner ear of the zebrafish Danio rerio, since both proteins are necessary for normal hair cell bundle development and maintenance in mammalian hair cells (e.g., Gibson et al. 1995).