Figure 3. tfap2e morpholino has no effect in wild-type embryos, but disrupts melanophore differentiation in tfap2a mutants.

(A–E) Lateral views of live embryos at 36 hpf. (A) A sibling embryo injected with a negative control MO (control^MO), with normal melanophores. (B) A kita^b5 homozygous mutant, in which melanophores remain in the trunk dorsum (black asterisk) and near the otic vesicle (white asterisk), but are normally melanized. (C) A tfap2a^ts213 homozygous mutant injected with a control MO (tfap2a ^−/−,control ^MO), exhibiting fewer melanophores than siblings and wild type embryos. (D) A sibling embryo injected with tfap2e e3i3 MO (tfap2e ^MO), with melanophores that are normal with respect to both number and differentiation. The pictured melanophore appears to be more spindly than control counterparts, but this was not a reproducible effect. (E) A tfap2e MO-injected, presumed tfap2a mutant embryo (tfap2a ^−/−/tfap2e^MO), showing fewer melanin-producing melanophores than in tfap2a mutants (82 of 312 injected embryos from an incross of heterozygous tfap2a mutant fish resembled the pictured embryo). (F) Histogram presenting the average number (± standard error, SE) of pigmented melanophores per tfap2a ^−/−/ control^MO and tfap2a ^−/−/tfap2e ^MO embryo at 36 hpf and 50 hpf. n = 10 embryos, asterisks indicate a p value <0.05. Scale bars: 100 µm.