Figure 1. Effects of somatic cell ablation of β-catenin on germ cell apoptosis and entry into meiosis.

(A–B) Immunohistochemistry for germ cell marker TRA98 (red) and apoptotic marker cleaved caspase 3 (green) in control (SF1/cre;Ctnnb1^f/+) and β-catenin conditional KO (cKO; SF1/cre;Ctnnb1^f/−) ovaries at 17.5 dpc. The arrows indicate cells that are double-positive (yellow) for TRA98 and cleaved caspase 3. The inset in B is an image of a higher magnification of cells double-positive (yellow) for TRA98 and cleaved caspase 3. (C–F) Analysis of the meiotic status of germ cells via immunohistochemistry for SCP3 on germ cell smear obtained from the control and β-catenin conditional KO ovaries at 15.5 dpc. The samples were counterstained with nuclear DAPI (blue). Scale bar represent 100 µm in A–B and 10 µm in C–F.