Figure 4: Membrane targeting enhances the efficiency of miniSOG mediated muscle cell ablation.
From: Highly efficient optogenetic cell ablation in C. elegans using membrane-targeted miniSOG
(a) Photoablation of body wall muscle by Pmyo-3-PH-miniSOG results in paralysis immediately after blue light illumination. Scale, 250 μm. (b) Quantitation of paralysis after blue light illumination. After 4 min illumination, animals that expressed PH-miniSOG in muscle cells were completely paralyzed, while mito-miniSOG expressing animals were not. Numbers are the animals that were analyzed in five independent experiments. (c) Quantitation of locomotion velocity immediately after blue light illumination (2 min 2 Hz). Pmyo-3-PH-miniSOG transgenic animals displayed significantly reduced speed compared to Pmyo-3-mito-miniSOG. Multi worm tracker; numbers in bars, n from three independent experiments. Mean + /− SEM. ***P < 0.001, t-test. (d) Representative confocal images of muscle cells with and without blue light illumination. Muscle cells degenerated by 4 h after 4 min illumination and did not recover 24 h later in PH-miniSOG transgenic animals. White arrows indicate muscle cell and red arrow indicates mCherry debris in the coelomocytes. Scale, 10 μm.
