Fig. 4: Statistical analyses of the 3D reconstructed images.

Distribution of volumes of the bacteria (a) and the mitochondria (b) visualized in n = 4 wild-type and n = 2 aposymbiotic 3D datasets. In each box plot, the center line indicates the median, the edges of the box represent the first and third quartiles, and the whiskers extend to span a 1.5 interquartile range from the edges. c Categorization of the bacteria and mitochondria populations into subpopulations based on the volume overlap between a bacterium and corresponding mitochondrion: 0% overlap is considered a “free” bacterium, 1–5% is designated “next”, between 6 and 30% is “partially inside” and above 31 % is “fully inside”. The portions of bacterial (d) and mitochondrial (e) subpopulations in each dataset are shown. As the oocytes mature, we detected more bacteria and mitochondria in intimate association (d, e). f–i Distribution of numbers of bacteria hosted by mitochondria indicates an increase in the capacity of the mitochondrion to harbor multiple bacteria upon maturation. In the late vitellogenic stage, a mitochondrion can harbor up to 14 bacteria (h). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.