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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Dec 8.
Published in final edited form as: Neuron. 2011 Dec 8;72(5):760–775. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2011.09.031

Figure 7. Caspases Localize to Drosophila NMJ.

Figure 7

(A) Representative image of third-instar muscle 6/7 NMJs expressing FLAG-tagged initiator caspase, Dronc, in neurons. Dronc-FLAG (green) localizes within neurons demarcated by HRP (blue) and to boutons, Dlg (red). Dronc-FLAG, elavC155-GAL4;; pUAS-Dronc-FLAG.

(B) Representative images of third-instar 6/7 NMJs expressing Dcp-1-Venus. Dcp-1-Venus, elavC155-GAL4; pUAS-Dcp-1-Venus.

(C) Confocal image of an axonal segment of a motoneuron projecting to muscle 4 (segment A2), in which UAS-Dcp-1-Venus is expressed under the control of elavC155. The red box marks the region that was bleached during the FRAP recording shown in (D).

(D) Normalized axonal FRAP time course. Fluorescence recovery was fitted with a double exponential function. Note that the Dcp-1-Venus fluorescence after the bleach pulse returns to ~75% of baseline fluorescence levels indicating that most of the Dcp-1-Venus is mobile within the axonal cytosol.

(E) Average mobile fraction (left) and half-maximum recovery time (t1/2, right) of FRAP time courses recorded in axons expressing Dcp-1-Venus (n = 8, red), or cytosolic GFP (OK371-GAL4; UAS-T2-GFP, n = 6, black). The average mobile fraction of Dcp-1-Venus (0.81 ± 0.04) was slightly smaller than cytosolic GFP (0.93 ± 0.02; p = 0.03), and the average recovery of Dcp-1-Venus (t1/2 = 1.36 ± 0.24 s) was slightly slower than in cytosolic GFP (t1/2 = 0.93 ± 0.02 s; p = 0.05).