Fig. 8.

FMNL3 is required for microtubule realignment during angiogenic morphogenesis. ECs were treated with or without FMNL3 siRNA and then transferred to the co-culture angiogenesis assay. Cells were stained for PECAM-1 (green) and glu-tubulin (red). ECs in co-culture contained stable microtubules aligned along the length of the tubule (left panels). In the few tubules that formed with FMNL3-depleted ECs, the microtubules still stained for stable microtubule markers; however, alignment was lost. The stable microtubules that were present were sparse, disorganised and often seen in knotted structures (arrow). Scale bar: 10 μm. The percentage of vessels containing aligned stable microtubules was quantified from three independent experiments and the data analysed using Student's t-test (unpaired, two-tailed). Depletion of FMNL3 using either siRNA led to a significant loss of microtubule alignment (P<0.01).