A) Confocal images of stage 42 X. laevis brains from X. laevis grown in the presence of DMSO or 100μM Wnt-C59 immunostained for phospho-histone H3, a marker of actively dividing cells. Scale bar = 250μm.
B) Confocal images of stage 42 X. laevis brains from X. laevis expressing importin α modified with a c-terminal CaaX domain which forces cortical localization via farnesylation and grown in the presence of 100μM Wnt-C59 immunostained for phospho-histone H3 and the modified importin α-CaaX construct.
C) Confocal images of stage 42 X. laevis brains from X. laevis expressing an mCherry construct modified with a c-terminal CaaX domain and grown in the presence of 100μM Wnt-C59 immunostained for phospho-histone H3 and the modified CaaX construct.
D) Quantification of the number of phospho-histone H3 positive cells in stage 42 X. laevis brains of X. laevis grown in the presence of DMSO or 100μM Wnt-C59 and expressing importin α-CaaX or mCherry-CaaX. Mean +/− SEM n>10 *=p<0.05 ****=p<0.0001. Wnt-C59 treated X. laevis showed a significantly reduced number of phospho-histone H3 positive cells in the brain compared to DMSO treated X. laevis. X. laevis expressing importin α-CaaX in the brain display a partial rescue of the reduced phospho-histone H3 levels which was not recapitulated in X. laevis expressing mCherry-CaaX.