Figure 3. Manipulations of dInR in LK neurons also affect adult cell body size.

Neurons are visualized with anti-LK. A–C Monitoring adult ABLKs (Posterior) and adult-specific anterior (Anterior) LK neurons in 3 d old adult flies reveal a size increase only (no effect of dInR-RNAi) for both the anterior adult-specific neurons (that differentiate during pupal development) and the posterior ABLKs. D–F In 35 d old flies the effect of the dInR manipulations are more drastic and also the dInR-RNAi has a significant effect on cell body size. G Quantification of cell body sizes in different genotypes and developmental time (3 d and 35 d old flies) in adults (*p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001, n = 6–10 animals from 3 crosses for each genotype, unpaired Student's T-test; comparisons were made between the same neuron type of the same age). Note that both anterior and posterior ABLKs are significantly larger in 35 d old flies than in 3 d old ones (unpaired Student's T-test). H–K manipulations of PI3K also affect cell body size of anterior and posterior LK-neurons in 3 d old adult flies. A dominant negative PI3K (PI3K-DN) expressed in Lk-Gal4 neurons diminishes cell size in both anterior neurons and posterior ones, whereas overexpression of wild type PI3K drastically increases size of both neuron types. The cell sizes are quantified in H (*p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001, n = 6–9 animals for each genotype from 3 crosses; unpaired Student's T-test). L Summary of sizes of abdominal LK neuron cell bodies in larvae and adults over time. We plotted the sizes of 14 ABLKs and their adult counterparts the posterior ABLKs (dashed lines), as well as the 8 adult-specific anterior LK neurons solid lines). In the wild type (or control) the size of the ABLKs increase from first to third instar larva, decreases during pupal development and then increases again from 3 d adult to 35 d old adults. The adult-specific anterior LK neurons do not increase significantly in size from 3–35 d in control flies. Over expression of dInR in LK neurons increases the ABLK cell body size (compared to controls), except during pupal development. The dInR-RNAi induces a significant difference only in the third instar and the 35 d old adults. Finally, after over expression of the dInR both the anterior adult-specific (red dashed line) and the posterior LK neurons (red solid line) display a significant increase in size after 35 d compared to 3 d (unpaired Student's T-test).