Table 2. An excess in polar cell number is produced in egg chambers upon expression of RNAi constructs targeting either a member of the RHG family (hid) or the effector caspase (drice).

	Stage 3		Stage 4		Stages 5–6		Stages 7–8		Stages 9–10		Stages 7–10
Genotype	A	P	A	P	A	P	A	P	A	P	A+P
	n=31	n=31	n=37	n=37	n=41	n=41	n=38	n=38	n=37	n=37	n=150
upd-gal4/+ ; UAS-H2B:YFP/+
Chambers with two PCs (%)	58	55	86	86	97	100	100	100	97	100	99
Chambers with three PCs (%)	42	45	14	14	3	0	0	0	3	0	<1
Average nb of PCs	2.42	2.45	2.13	2.13	2.02	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.02	2.0	2.01
	n=18	n=21	n=29	n=29	n=38	n=38	n=42	n=42	n=40	n=47	n=171
upd-gal4/+UAS-driceIRa/+ UAS-H2B:YFP/+
Chambers with two PCs (%)	17	57	14	21	37	26	47	32	34	34	37
Chambers with three PCs (%)	61	37	62	55	60	55	47	52	55	47	50
Chambers with four PCs (%)	22	6	17	24	3	19	5	14	11	19	12
Chambers with five PCs (%)	0	0	7	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1
Average nb of PCs	3.05	3.0	3.17	3.17	2.66	3.02	2.67	2.86	3.4	2.85	2.76
	n=21	n=21	n=25	n=25	n=29	n=29	n=29	n=29	n=32	n=32	n=122
upd-gal4/+ ; UAS-hidIRa/UAS-H2B:YFP
Chambers with two PCs (%)	10	62	52	32	66	52	52	76	69	63	65
Chambers with three PCs (%)	76	33	40	64	31	45	45	24	25	37	33
Chambers with four PCs (%)	14	5	8	4	3	3	3	0	6	0	2
Average nb of PCs	3.04	2.43	2.56	3.17	2.38	2.52	2.52	2.24	2.38	1.95	2.37

^aThe strains carrying RNAi constructs used were obtained from NIG-FLY

(UAS-hidIR: 5123R2 and

UAS-driceIR: 7788R1).

In females ectopically expressing the RNAi transgenes UAS-driceIR and UAS-hidIR specifically in polar cells, the number of polar cells (PC), as indicated by Fas3 and YFP immunostaining, both at the anterior (A) and posterior (P) ends of chambers, was determined from stages 3 to 10 of oogenesis. The results are expressed as the percentage of total chambers (n) of a given genotype with 2, 3, 4 or 5 polar cells. The average number of polar cells at each pole for each stage is indicated at the bottom of each column