Figure 8 Ea/Ep cell apical surface shrinking and cell compaction are affected by
gex-3(RNAi) and mNeonGreen::GEX-3 localization.(A) E cell positions over time; images are from
end-1::CAAX-GFP uninjected control and
gex-3(RNAi) embryos. (B) Lengths of exposed E cell apical surfaces were measured in
end-1::CAAX-GFP uninjected control and
gex-3(RNAi) embryos over time. The exposed surfaces began to narrow in
gex-3(RNAi) embryos, but at later time points the membranes remained exposed on the embryo surface. *P , 0.05. (C) Cell isolation experiments with control and
gex-3(
zu196) cells. The contact length ratio (cell-cell contact length/cell diameter) is used as a metric for cell compaction (see Materials and Methods for details).
gex-3(
zu196) cells have a small but statistically significant reduction in cell contact length ratios. *P , 0.05. White asterisks mark the Ea/Ep cells. (D) mNeonGreen::GEX-3 localization in an embryo during gastrulation. Arrowheads mark the single E cell in the first image and the apical contact between its daughter cells, Ea/p, in other images. Arrows mark an Ea/MS granddaughter apical border, at which mNG::GEX-3 appeared enriched in 10 of 14 embryos. Bar = 10 um except for lower-right frame, which is a magnified view of the +27-min time point in another focal plane, bar, 5 um.