FIGURE 3:

Expression of Eps8L1a blocks microvillus elongation. (A) Immunofluorescence was performed on LLC-PK1 cells expressing ezrin-VSVG (left) or GFP-Eps8L1a (right). Ezrin (in red) was detected with an anti-VSVG antibody. Images were taken as in Figure 1B and correspond to a maximum-intensity Z-projection performed after deconvolution. Insets show the localization of ezrin along the microvilli (left) and Eps8L1a at the tip (right). Bar, 10 μm; insets, 1 μm. (B) CL-SEM was performed on cells expressing ezrin-GFP or GFP-Eps8L1a. Transfected cells (in green) were tracked by fluorescence and subsequently analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. The size of the microvilli is considerably reduced in cells expressing Eps8L1a as compared with that of cells expressing ezrin-GFP or of untransfected cells (bottom). Bars, first row,10 μm; others, 1 μm.