Figure 3. ceh-23 expression is enriched in the nuclei of intestinal and neuronal cells and is increased in response to altered mitochondrial function.

(A) DIC image of a rwEx19[gfp::ceh-23+mec-7::rfp] transgenic worm. (B) Overlay of a GFP-channel image (shown in green) and a RFP-channel image (shown in red) of a rwEx19[gfp::ceh-23+mec-7::rfp] transgenic worm. mec-7::rfp transgene was used as a co-injection marker. The green fluorescence likely represents the authentic expression pattern of CEH-23. The white arrows point to the nuclei of intestinal cells. The image shown is a representative of data obtained with two independent lines. (C) Enlarged overlay (GFP and RFP) image of the head of a rwEx19[gfp::ceh-23+mec-7::rfp] transgenic worm showing some of the neurons expressing CEH-23. (D) Enlarged overlay (GFP and RFP) image of the posterior intestine of a rwEx19[gfp::ceh-23+mec-7::rfp] transgenic worm showing enriched GFP expression in the nuclei of some of the intestinal cells (white arrows). (E) mRNA expression level of ceh-23 in wild-type worms and clk-1(e2519), isp-1(qm150);ctb-1(qm189), and isp-1(qm150) mutant worms. The mean ceh-23 mRNA levels normalized to actin mRNA levels are shown. The mean normalized mRNA levels in wild-type worms were set as 1. Data shown were pooled from three independent experiments, p≤0.05, Student t test. (F) GFP expression in gmls-18[ceh-23::gfp] and in isp-1;ctb-1;gmls-18[ceh-23::gfp] transgenic mutant worms at L4 stage was visualized using confocal microscopy. CEH-23::GFP expression is shown in green and fluorescent image was merged with DIC image. (G) Quantification of the GFP expression levels in gmls-18[ceh-23::gfp] and in isp-1;ctb-1;gmls-18[ceh-23::gfp] transgenic mutant worms. Data shown were obtained from four representative worms.