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. 2008 May;19(5):2241–2250. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E07-09-0982

Figure 6.

Figure 6.

VPA inhibits egg-laying behavior via DAG signaling. The number of eggs laid on the plate over 2 h, and the number of eggs remaining in the animals at the end of the 2 h were determined. (A) VPA inhibits egg laying. Exposure to 6 mM VPA reduced the number of eggs laid on the plate compared with 6 mM NaCl (*p < 0.05, Student's t test). (B and C) unc-13(s69) animals were rescued with a transgene that expresses either a non–DAG-binding form of the UNC-13 neuromodulator [unc-13(s69);UNC-13(H173K)::GFP, referred to in the text as UNC-13(H173K) animals] (B) or by a transgene expressing a wild-type form of UNC-13 [unc-13(s69);UNC-13::GFP referred to in the text as UNC-13(+) animals] (C). Egg laying by UNC-13(H173K) animals is unaffected by addition of 6 mM VPA (B), whereas egg laying by UNC-13(+) animals is inhibited by 6 mM VPA (C). (D) A mutation in the EGL-8 PLBβ [egl-8(md1971)] causes an egg-laying defect, and this is not altered by addition of 6 mM VPA. (E–G) The addition of DAG analogue PMA reverses the inhibition of egg laying caused both by exposure to 6 mM VPA in wild-type (E) animals and by mutation of the PLCβ EGL-8 (G), but not the inhibition caused by disruption of a DAG effector, UNC-13(H173K) animals (F). Each datum represents mean ± SEM from five independent experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001, Scheffé's multiple comparison test.