Neuronal heterogeneity and stereotyped connectivity in the auditory afferent system.

Petitpré C, Wu H, Sharma A, Tokarska A, Fontanet P, Wang Y, Helmbacher F, Yackle K, Silberberg G, Hadjab S, Lallemend F

Nat Commun 9 (1) 3691 [2018-09-12; online 2018-09-12]

Spiral ganglion (SG) neurons of the cochlea convey all auditory inputs to the brain, yet the cellular and molecular complexity necessary to decode the various acoustic features in the SG has remained unresolved. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we identify four types of SG neurons, including three novel subclasses of type I neurons and the type II neurons, and provide a comprehensive genetic framework that define their potential synaptic communication patterns. The connectivity patterns of the three subclasses of type I neurons with inner hair cells and their electrophysiological profiles suggest that they represent the intensity-coding properties of auditory afferents. Moreover, neuron type specification is already established at birth, indicating a neuronal diversification process independent of neuronal activity. Thus, this work provides a transcriptional catalog of neuron types in the cochlea, which serves as a valuable resource for dissecting cell-type-specific functions of dedicated afferents in auditory perception and in hearing disorders.

Bioinformatics Support for Computational Resources [Service]

Eukaryotic Single Cell Genomics (ESCG) [Service]

NGI Stockholm (Genomics Applications) [Service]

NGI Stockholm (Genomics Production) [Service]

National Genomics Infrastructure [Service]

PubMed 30209249

DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-06033-3

Crossref 10.1038/s41467-018-06033-3

pii: 10.1038/s41467-018-06033-3
pmc: PMC6135759
GEO: GSE117055 Neuronal heterogeneity and stereotyped connectivity in the auditory afferent system


Publications 9.5.0