Figure 7.

Cytoplasmic GWBs require the presence of intact RNA. (A) Drosophila GWBs were detected in S2 cells expressing a GFP-GW protein fusion. (B) 5 min after RNase treatment, punctate GWBs were no longer present, and the GFP-GW signal became diffuse throughout the cytoplasm. (C) In 10% of RNase-treated and 4% of untreated cells, an alternate perinuclear pattern of GFP-GW was seen. Each image represents a maximum projection of a three-dimensional stack of confocal images encompassing the entire cell. (D–F) Endogenous GW (α-GW) and mitochondria (Mitotracker) was also observed to ensure that the RNase treatment did not cause general organelle breakdown. (G) Quantification of the number of cells displaying each of the patterns of GFP-GW (A–C) with or without RNase treatment (n = 320). Error bars represent the SD from three separate experiments. Bars (A–C), 10 μm; (D–F) 20 μM.