Fig. 8.

The cytoskeleton is impaired in loop-tail embryos. (A,B) Adherens junctions in control (lp^+/−) embryos display high actin enrichment (arrowhead in A). In oblique cut sections, the ring-shaped structure of adherens junctions is obvious (arrows in A,B). (C,D) Loop-tail (lp^−/−) embryos displays adherens junctions with low levels of unevenly distributed actin (arrowhead in D). Ring-like adherens junctions were not found. (E-H,M,O) In control embryos, double labeling of β-catenin (E) and N-cadherin (F) demonstrate enriched labeling (arrowheads) and ring-like structures (arrows). Loop-tail embryos display weak labeling of β-catenin (G) and N-cadherin (H). Enrichment is frequently absent (arrowheads), at level with the rest of the neural tube. p120-catenin is enriched over the adherens junctions in control embryos (arrow in M), but not in loop-tail embryos (arrowhead in O). (I-L) Control embryos (I,J) display focused Rac1 labeling (J, arrow) that overlap with actin enrichment (I, arrow) over the adherens junctions. Rac1 in loop-tail embryos (L, arrowhead) is not focused to adherens junctions but evenly distributed over the cytoplasm of cells throughout the neural tube. It does not overlap with actin (K, arrowhead). (N,P) RhoA labeling is similar in control (N) and loop-tail (P) embryos. lp, loop-tail. Scale bars: 50 μm.