Figure 3.

Embryonic expression of dAven. High resolution in situ hybridization of Drosophila embryos at various stages using an RNA-DIG labeled probe encoding an anti-sense sequence of dAven mRNA. (A) Early Drosophila embryo showing dividing nuclei (stained with DAPI and pseudo-colored in red, and indicated by arrows) and maternal dAven mRNA throughout the embryo (green). (B) Stage 5 embryo showing dAven mRNA enriched at the yolk and the yolk nuclei area (yn) and absent from the pole cells (pc) and the blastoderm nuclei (bn). (C) Embryo during gastrulation with ubiquitous distribution of dAven mRNA, including a mild enrichment at the mesoderm (m) and some zygotic transcription (asterisks). (D) Higher magnification image from the same embryo as (C) showing dAven mRNA localizing to cytoplasmic foci (white arrow) outside the nuclei (red) of cells. Zygotic transcription is seen as green dots inside the nuclei (asterisks). (E) Stage 9 embryo with dAven expression throughout the embryo, including the amnioserosa (as). (F) Stage 13 embryo showing ubiquitous dAven expression, including the ventral nerve cord (vnc), the ectoderm (ec) and the amnioserosa (as). (G) and (H) Stage 16 embryo showing dAven expression at the salivary glands (sg) and the malpighian tubules (mt); (H) is a higher magnification image of (G). In all the panels, anterior is to the right and ventral is down.