Figure 1. Perturbation of actomyosin function in the C. elegans primordial germ line: Schematic representation (top) and confocal images (bottom) of the 2-cell (left) and 3-cell (right) primordial germ line in control L1-stage animals. B. Confocal images of the primordial germ line containing 2 (left) or 3 (middle) germ cells in L1-stage animals bearing temperature-sensitive alleles for
cyk-4(
or749ts),
zen-4(
or153ts),
nmy-2(
ne3409ts) or
cyk-1(
or596ts) that were upshifted at 26°C for 12h. The panels on the right show the adult germ line after animals of each genotype were grown at 26°C. C. Images of the 2-cell (left), 3-cell (middle) and adult (right) germ line in animals co-expressing NMY-2::GFP (magenta) and markers for membranes and histones (green) that were soaked at the L1 stage in control (top) or
nmy-2 (bottom) dsRNA. D. Measured fluorescence intensity of NMY-2::GFP and mNG::ANI-1 at the proto-rachis of L1-stage animals soaked respectively in control,
nmy-2 or
ani-1 dsRNA (RNAi). E. Confocal images of the 2-cell (top) and 3-cell (bottom) germ line in
rrf-3(
pk1426) mutant animals co-expressing mNG::ANI-1 (magenta) and markers for membranes and histones (green) that were soaked at the L1 stage in control (far left),
ani-1 (middle left),
rho-1 (middle right) or
ect-2 (far right) dsRNA. F. Measured fluorescence intensity of mNG::ANI-1 at the proto-rachis of L1-stage animals soaked respectively in control,
ani-1,
rho-1, or
ect-2 dsRNA (RNAi). G. Confocal images of the germ line in L1 (top) and L4 (bottom) animals co-expressing mNG::ANI-1 (left) or LifeAct::mKate2 (right; magenta) and markers for membranes and histones (green) after treatment with 100 µM latrunculin A or solvent alone (control DMSO). H. Measured fluorescence intensity of mNG::ANI-1 and LifeAct::mKate2 at the proto-rachis of L1-stage animals treated with 100 µM of latrunculin A (LatA) or solvent alone (DMSO control). In all panels, images shown are sum projections of 3 confocal slices, membranes are marked with TagRFP-, GFP- or mNG-tagged PHPLCδ and histones are marked with mCh-HIS-58 (see strain table for details). For all images of L1 animals, scale bar = 3 µm. For all images of L4 and adult animals, scale bar = 30 µm. For all graphs, black lines represent mean ± standard deviation, and statistical analyses were done using a one-way ANOVA test with a Tukey post hoc test (n.s. = p > 0.05; * = p < 0.001).