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. 2011 Apr 29;6(4):e19087. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019087

Figure 1. Knockdown of sticky expression by dsRNA-expressing E. coli.

Figure 1

(A) S2 cells after 86 hours incubation with E. coli cells, stained for β-tubulin, Sticky and DNA (Hoechst-33342). Scale bar, 5 µm. Central spindle figures positive for Sticky were quantified in (B). (C) Incubation of S2 cells with E. coli that expressed sticky dsRNA increased the percentage of multinucleated cells in culture. Representative micrographs showing multinucleated S2 cells (e.g. arrows), cultured in the presence of E. coli that express sticky-dsRNA or carry pPD129.36 vector only (4), and stained with phalloidin (green) and the nuclear dye Hoechst-33342 (magenta). Cells were cultured for 62 or 86 hours in a 10-fold excess of IPTG-treated E. coli. To inhibit bacterial growth, E. coli cells were either heat-inactivated prior to incubation or cultured in the presence of antibiotics (penicillin and streptomycin). (D) Bar graph showing percentage of multinucleated S2 cells in cultures treated as (C). Values are averages of four independent experiments, each averaged from 200–500 S2 cells. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean. *** P<0.005; two-tailed t-test.