Fig. 7. Interspecific comparison of DC for morphological features and dorsum size.

(A) Tribolium (WT and Tc-zen1^RNAi (z1)), (B) Drosophila, and (C) Oncopeltus are shown at early-mid DC. Upper schematics represent dorsal views, shown to scale, with relative EE areas compared to Drosophila's (“EE/Fly”) and to total dorsal area (“EE/Egg”) given below (n≧3 per species). The ≧ designation for Oncopeltus reflects the limited availability of the youngest, widest DC stages for measurement. Prominent EE features are shown: Tribolium radial (WT) or longitudinal (Tc-zen1^RNAi) F-actin fibers and anterior bulge, Drosophila radial contractility gradient from the leading edge F-actin cable, Oncopeltus bilateral thoracic clusters. Lower schematics, in lateral aspect, indicate the number of tissues participating in DC (adapted from Campos-Ortega and Hartenstein, 1997 (Drosophila) and Panfilio, 2008 (Oncopeltus)). (A1–C1) Apical areas of cells at the epidermal–extraembryonic boundary, shown for approximately three epidermal and two amniotic/amnioserosal cell rows, emphasizing the epidermal cell elongation and regularity of the tissue boundary in Drosophila, in contrast to the amniotic elongation and irregular border in Tribolium and Oncopeltus. Schematized representations are based on: anti-Tc-Arm1 (Fig. 3A), alpha-Catenin-GFP (Jacinto et al., 2002b), and phalloidin (Panfilio and Roth, 2010), respectively.