Fig. 4
From: Hox and Wnt pattern the primary body axis of an anthozoan cnidarian before gastrulation
Effects of perturbing anterior and central/posterior Hox genes on oral–aboral identity extends to late development. a–c Phalloidin stained embryos at planula larvae (144hpf) stages taken from: a dextran-injected controls, b anterior Hox (NvAx6) overexpression, and c central/posterior Hox (NvAx1) overexpression treatments. d–h Apical tuft cilia labeled with and acetylated tubulin antibody (red) with the nuclei counter stained with DAPI (blue) in: d planula stage embryos treated with dextran, e anterior NvAx6 morpholino, f central/posterior NvAx1 Hox mRNA, g anterior NvAx6 mRNA, or h central/posterior NvAx1 Hox morpholino. i–l Changes in polyp morphology resulting from disruption of anterior Hox (NvAx6) and central/posterior Hox (NvAx1) expression during early development. i Wild-type polyp after metamorphosis. j Overexpression of anterior Hox (NvAx6) results in ectopic tissue formation at the oral side of the animal. k Overexpression of central/posterior Hox (NvAx1) results in bilayered animals (maintained for 21 days after fertilization) without clear axial morphology but have cnidocytes (stinging cells) along the outer ectoderm. l Animals treated with central/posterior Hox (NvAx1) morpholino eventually metamorphose (2 weeks after fertilization) to produce animals with small heads and extremely long body columns. Images were compiled from at least three separate experiments and the number of similar phenotypes is noted as a fraction in the lower left-hand corner. Scale bars are 50 µm
