Fig. 3
Discovery of BMP signaling in cell non-autonomous regulation of lipid metabolism. a Four mutants from the screen are defective in sma-2, sma-3, and sma-4. b Example SRS images reveal that the sma mutants have reduced numbers of lipid droplets and levels of lipid content, compared to wild type. Dashed lines indicate the boundary of worms, scale bar = 50 μm. c Quantification using SRS signal intensity show that the levels of lipid content are decreased in the BMP/sma mutants, but not in the TGF-β/dauer mutants or in the non-BMP sma mutant. Age synchronized, 1-day-old adult worms were imaged. ***P < 0.001, n.s. P > 0.05, n = 35 for WT, n = 17 for rax3, n = 21 for rax5, n = 24 for rax7, n = 16 for rax10, n = 28 for e502, n = 22 for e491, n = 26 for e729, n = 44 for wk7, n = 24 for wk55, n = 21 for wk70, n = 25 for e1364, n = 16 for e30, n = 20 for e1372, n = 72 for m40, n = 69 for mgDf90, n = 89 for e1386, n = 68 for e1393, and n = 75 for m77. d Diagram of the BMP/SMA signaling pathway in C. elegans. e Decreased lipid content by the sma-3 mutation is rescued fully by expressing sma-3 using its endogenous promoter or the myo-2 (pharyngeal muscle) promoter, partially by using the vha-6 (intestine) promoter, but not by using the dpy-7 (hypodermis) promoter. Representative SRS images are shown in Supplementary Fig. 5. Age synchronized, 1-day-old adult worms were imaged. ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, n.s. P > 0.05, n = 54 for WT, n = 44 for sma-3 mutant, n = 24 for Psma-3( + ), n = 42 for Pmyo-2( + ), n = 50 for Pvha-6( + ), and n = 46 for Pdpy-7( + ). f The small body size of the sma-3 mutant is rescued by expressing sma-3 using its endogenous promoter or the dpy-7 (hypodermis) promoter, but not by using the myo-2 (pharyngeal muscle) or the vha-6 (intestine) promoter. ***P < 0.001, n.s. P > 0.05, n = 17 for WT, n = 20 for sma-3 mutant, n = 13 for Psma-3( + ), n = 15 for Pmyo-2( + ), n = 18 for Pvha-6( + ), and n = 21 for Pdpy-7( + ). In all bar charts, data represent mean ± s.d., P value is determined by a Student’s t-test (unpaired, two-tailed)
