Asymmetric expression of imb-2 in AWCON was also observed in our initial assessment of the imb-2 expression pattern using imb-2 fosmid::GFP in which we fused GFP with the C terminus of IMB-2 by homologous recombination, that rescued imb-2(vy10) mutants.
NOS-2 protein is expressed sequentially during embryogenesis. First detected expression of NOS-2 in the 1-cell stage; at this stage, NOS-2 was present uniformly throughout the embryo. No NOS-2 expression was detected in 2- to 20-cell embryos. NOS-2 expression reappeared in the 28-cell stage in the cytoplasm of the germline blastomere P4. In some embryos, NOS-2 staining appeared to be concentrated in a few perinuclear foci. NOS-2 expression continued in P4 and its two daughters Z2 and Z3 until approximately the 200-cell stage. NOS-2 levels decreased sharply in later stages and were undetectable by the 550-cell stage.
SMF-2 is expressed in DA neurons, as well as other cells, and the SMF-2 antibody does not immunoreact with other cells in the smf-2 mutant primary cultures.