Fig. 4: CF loss causes midline distortion during gastrulation and late embryonic abnormalities.
From: Divergent evolutionary strategies pre-empt tissue collision in gastrulation
a,b, Time-lapse series of a representative sham control (Sham-DNRho1, n = 4) (a) or photo-activated (Opto-DNRho1, n = 5) (b) embryo expressing the Opto-DNRho1 system, visualized with 3xmScarlet-CaaX showing a ventral surface projection (top) and a single coronal section (bottom). Blue dashed rectangles, illumination ROIs for the sham activation or photo-activation; white dashed lines, ventral midlines; yellow arrows and yellow dashed outlines, CF; yellow asterisks, bilaterally symmetric CFs; magenta dashed outlines, head–trunk bucklings; magenta asterisks, laterally asymmetric buckling. c, Box plot showing mean deviation of the manually marked ventral midline from the expected linear ventral midline position measured at the onset of gastrulation (onset) and a mid-gastrulation (mid) stage when deviation reaches a maximum. Mann–Whitney U-test (two-sided), *P < 0.05 (P = 0.0159). Sample size: Sham n = 4, Opto n= 5. Bold lines indicate the median, boxes show the interquartile range and whiskers indicate the minimum–maximum range. d,e, Time-lapse series of a representative sham control (Sham-DNRho1, n = 35) (d) or photo-activated (Opto-DNRho1, n = 25) (e) embryo, visualized with 3xmScarlet-CaaX, showing a ventral view with maximum intensity projection. Orange arrows, head involution (HI); orange dashed rectangles, VNC condensation. f, Pie charts showing the percentage of embryos defective for HI, VNC or ventral midline (VM). Time is relative to the onset of gastrulation. Fisher’s exact test with Bonferroni correction (α = 0.0167). Head involution, ****P < 0.0001 (P = 0.00002); VNC, ***P < 0.001 (P = 0.0002); ventral midline, ***P < 0.001 (P = 0.0003). Scale bars, 30 µm.
