Fig. 6: Ovaries expressing nos with stem loop structures and exposed GC-rich complementary sequences in its 3′UTR exhibit impaired germline stem cell maintenance.

a Images of WT, intermediate and severe phenotypes of ovary morphology. Scale bars: 200 μm. b Percentages of examined ovaries with a WT, intermediate and severe phenotypes in nos-non/nos^def (n = 29, 25 and 24 ovaries) (i), nos-HIV/nos^def (n = 29, 26 and 22 ovaries) (ii) and nos-nos/nos^def (n = 31, 23 and 26 ovaries) (iii) females aged 3, 9 and 14 days (D3, D9 and D14, respectively). c Immunofluorescent images of germaria of nos-non/nos^def (i). Asterisks: GSCs. Blue: DNA/DAPI; green: germ cells immunostained with anti-Vasa antibody; magenta: spectrosomes immunostained with anti-1B1 antibody. Scale bars: 18 μm. Percent of germaria with 0, 1 or 2-3 GSCs in nos-non/nos^def (ii). n = 6, 7 and 7 germaria for D3, D9 and D14, respectively. d Immunofluorescent images of germaria of nos-HIV/nos^def (i). Asterisks: GSCs. Blue: DNA/DAPI; green: germ cells immunostained with anti-Vasa antibody; magenta: spectrosomes immunostained with anti-1B1 antibody. Scale bars: 18 μm. Percent of germaria with 0, 1 or 2-3 GSCs in nos-HIV/nos^def (ii). n = 7, 6 and 6 germaria for D3, D9 and D14, respectively. e Immunofluorescent images of germaria of nos-nos/nos^def (i). Asterisks: GSCs. Blue: DNA/DAPI; green: germ cells immunostained with anti-Vasa antibody; magenta: spectrosomes immunostained with anti-1B1 antibody. Scale bars: 18 μm. Percent of germaria with 0, 1 or 2-3 GSCs in nos-nos/nos^def (ii). n = 6, 6 and 7 germaria for D3, D9 and D14, respectively. f Aberrant germ cell morphology (green) in germaria derived from nos-HIV/nos^def and nos-nos/nos^def females at D9. In each condition, 1 out of 6 examined ovaries exhibited an apoptotic phenotype. Scale bars: 18 μm. See Supplementary Fig. S8. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.