Figure 4. Collagens maintain body stiffness for mate attractiveness.
(A) Bright-field images of wild type and bursting hermaphrodites, including dpy-2, dpy-7, and dpy-10. Scale bar = 1 mm. (B) Young’s Modulus of C. elegans with indicated genotypes and treatments. Whisker and box plot with the median for stiffness measurement. Individual dots indicate the measurement of each trial. Whisker labels the range from maximum to minimum. (C) Schematic diagram of experimental procedures to release internal pressure by poking wild-type hermaphrodites or using the gon-2 mutant. (D, E) Percentage of male leavers in male retention assay with the mutant or the wild-type hermaphrodites under indicated treatments. (F) Bright-field images of wild-type hermaphrodites in different conditions. Scale bar = 1 mm. (G) Percentage of male leavers in male retention assay with the mutant or the wild-type hermaphrodites under indicated treatments.