Fig. 1.

Loss of hypodermal nuclei with age from the tails of N2 and daf-2 nematodes. (a) Tails of N2 nematodes, stained with DAPI. Worms were picked from a synchronized population initiated with a timed lay. The date of the lay is counted as day 0. Images were examined and scored as to how many nuclei were visible in the tail. In the majority of aged nematodes, the nuclei corresponding to hypodermal nuclei H9 and H10 are lost [(arrowheads, quantified in (b) and (c)]. Although not quantified, we noted the appearance of nuclei with a fragmented or condensed appearance with age (arrows, bottom panel) (top: 4 days old, middle: 14 days old, bottom: 19 days old). (b) Count of nuclei visible in the tails of individual N2 nematodes. (c) Count of nuclei visible in the tails of individual daf-2(e1368) nematodes. Ten individuals were counted per group, except 19-day-old N2 for which nine were counted.