Figure 2. Spatial pigmentation patterning in miR-8 mutants is independent of body size.

(A–C and E–H) Dorsal abdominal cuticle segments A5 and A6 from 4- to 6- day old adult females. The dorsal midline is toward the right of each panel for better visualization of the region lateral to the midline. (A) cg-Gal4/+, (B) UAS-ush/+ and (C) cg-Gal4/UAS-ush flies were reared at 27°C. Expression of ush in the fat body by the cg-Gal4 driver resulted in decreased body size (data not shown). (D) Quantification of A6 segment pigmentation from 10–12 cuticles per genotype reared at 27°C. Mean percent pigmentation is displayed, with error bars representing SEM. Though there was a statistically significant difference between all three groups (ANOVA, F_2,31=12.8, p<0.0001), shared letters indicate no significant difference (Tukey post-hoc, α=0.05). (E) cg-Gal4/+, (F) UAS-miR-8/+, (G) miR-8^jk22/miR-8^jk22, and (H) miR-8^jk22, cg-Gal4/ miR-8^jk22; UAS-miR-8/ + flies were reared at 25°C. Overexpression of miR-8 in the fat body of miR-8 mutant flies rescued the body size defect (data not shown). (I) Quantification of A6 pigmentation from 13–19 cuticles per genotype reared at 25°C. Mean percent pigmentation is displayed, with error bars representing SEM. Though there was a statistically significant difference between all groups (ANOVA, F_3,62=75.78, p<0.0001), shared letters indicate no significant difference (Tukey post-hoc, α=0.05).