Figure 5.

Comparison of the sperm morphology of control and melav2 RNAi treated M. lignano. (A-C) Normal spermatid differentiation starts with the development of the anterior part. Note that spermatid cells are arranged in clusters of four cells until just before the completion of sperm maturation. (D) Schematic illustration of normal mature sperm. Note that the direction of bristles is toward posterior in mature sperm. (E) In the melav2 RNAi treated animals no clusters of four cells were found. (F-I) Examples of aberrant spermatid morphology in the melav2 RNAi treated animals. Note that the posterior part of the developing spermatids was affected by the melav2 RNAi treatment in all cases. b, body; br, bristles; f, feeler; s, shaft. Scale bars: A, B, F-I, 10 μm; C, E, 20 μm.